Sunny's New Story
by StarflighttheNightWing
Summary: The war is over, and the dragonets tell their own tales. Join Sunny again as she goes on an epic journey, is forced to survive, and meets many special friends along the way. Will she be able to live through all of this?
1. Shocking News

Chapter 1

Sunny couldn't believe her eyes. The Kingdom of Sand finally lay before her, beautiful as it was a year ago.

Everywhere she looked, there were billowing clouds of dusty sand, SandWing dragonets play-fighting, plants and shrubbery, and the occasional lizard on a rock.

She took a huge breath of the desert air, as if she had been underwater for a month.

Oh, how I miss my parents and my friends, Sunny brooded, thinking about some of the most important dragons she knew in her life. She hadn't seen any of them for a long time now, if you don't include her recent visit to Tsunami.

She had been to see the SeaWing, who with the assistance of Anemone and Queen Coral had rebuilt the Summer Palace for non-SeaWing visitors, in particular the dragonets. Anemone's animus magic wasn't making her insane, but Sunny thought the use of her powers made her a lot less tolerant and more stressed.

The new Summer Palace was beautiful, more scenic than the last one. Queen Coral wasn't chaining up non-SeaWings anymore, so that was a plus.

As soon as Sunny thought about animus magic, her mind drifted towards her father. Dad, haven't seen him in a while, Sunny thought, I wonder how he's doing.

She had planned to go visit her mother, Queen Thorn, then head over to the lower peaks of Jade Mountain, where Stonemover had relocated on account of the school for dragonets being built.

I wonder if I'll ever have dragonets, Sunny thought, mournfully. She knew well that Starflight was lovestruck for Fatespeaker, the NightWing that helped Starflight when they saved the RainWings from the NightWings' attack, who was a huge help to Starflight now that he was blind, and she was fine with that. Sunny was lonely though, knowing all her friends had someone, except for her.

Sunny knew what most of her friends would say. "Oh, Sunny, you're too immature, Sunny, you're not responsible enough, Sunny, you're-" Sunny mocked to herself, imitating Tsunami in particular.

She lighted down on a large boulder, and snapped up a lizard and popped in her mouth.

Lizards were her favorite food, as they weren't too crunchy, too bloody, or too bony. They were basically the closest she could normally get to gourmet.

Sunny was still hungry, so she lifted up some smaller rocks near the larger ones, and she growled unhappily when all she could find was a small baby scorpion and a tiny scarab beetle. She munched on them thoughtfully as she looked up at the sky.

She knew that the Kingdom of Sand was the largest kingdom, so she wouldn't be arriving at the walled fortress that used to be Queen Burn's for a while now, the one her mother now resided in.

Of course, Burn, Blister and Blaze were all never Queen, of course, but when the war was still going strong they all insisted they were called that.

Sunny remembered those treacherous, no-good sisters. She grumbled.

She especially remembered when the dragonets were captured in the Sky Kingdom, and Burn had been eyeing Sunny down in her cage above the dining hall, like she was the oddest thing the grotesque heir had seen.

If Sunny had to name her worst life experience, that cage in the Sky Kingdom would be up there.

The new palace had looked beautiful, with a nice room for Sunny and the dragonets to stay in when they visited, servants who were treated well, and a dining hall without cruel queens discussing how many guards were needed to throw Tsunami of a cliff, and how they were thrilled to see how many IceWings Starflight (who probably couldn't kill another dragon, and probably wouldn't if he could) would massacre in 5 seconds.

Sunny righted herself, as she knew that wouldn't happen again. At least, she hoped it wouldn't.

She saw the Scorpion Den up ahead, and saw Six-Claws waving her over with a big, goofy grin.

She rolled her eyes jokingly, and lighted down to the huge SandWing.

"Hello, Sunny!" Six-Claws yelled happily, patting her on the back too hard, causing her to fall over in the warm desert sand.

Sunny simply grinned up at her friend.

"Would you like to see our new layout, Princess Sunny?" Six-Claws inquired, gesturing towards the complex to his immediate left.

Sunny had never had anyone call her Princess before. She knew she was one, but still, it sounded odd all the same.

"Sure," Sunny wavered, still shocked by what the male SandWing had addressed her as.

She smiled as Six-Claws opened up the large gate doors into the Scorpion Den, showing off playful dragonets, smiling desert merchants, and odd trinkets lining the shelves.

"Ooh," Sunny marvelled at the beautiful sight, as opposed to the crackly, run-down place the Scorpion Den used to be.

She figured her mother played a role in that, as she probably didn't have time when she ruled it before.

Qibli, the dragonet that she had met the last time she had gone here who had helped run the Scorpion Den with the Outclaws, trotted up, waving at Sunny warmly.

"Eh, Sunny?" Qibli asked. "Ow's it been going?"

"Fine, thank you," Sunny said, patting him on the head, although she wasn't much larger than the dusty-coloured SandWing.

As he ran off, his tail snaked dangerously close to her right back talon, and she moved it just in time. She scowled at Qibli, although he wasn't looking.

"Close call, huh?" Six-Claws asked, escorting her along by the commotion and craziness happening on the other side of the shops.

"You better believe it," Sunny replied.

He seems more cheery than normal, Sunny thought. Seems mysterious.

Sunny shook it off, figuring it was just coincidence.

Six-Claws and Sunny came up to the place where she had first met her mother, and saw a new, regal looking-dragon sitting there, who also had a goldish tint to her scales, and Sunny also noted she was devoid of a poisonous barb. She was also smaller than normal.

How? Sunny thought. I'm the only hybrid dragon in Pyrrhia!

Six-Claws and Sunny walked up, and Six-Claws bowed, and Sunny imitated.

"Sunny, I think you'd like to meet this dragon," Six-Claws said excitedly, with his usual goofy grin.

Sunny was puzzled. What's so special about this dragon? Sunny pondered.

"This is your sister, Gila."


	2. Flashback

Chapter 2

Sunny's eyes nearly popped out of her head. How do I have a sister? Sunny thought. I had seen my mother so much a couple months ago, and she never mentioned her! How? I even saw Mother on my hatching day, for goodness sake!

Although, a soon as she saw the SandWing, she had known something was special about her. After all, they did look uncannily similar.

"Hi," Gila said matter-of-factly, staring down at Sunny. "What is your name?"

"S-sunny," she faltered. It felt odd to be face-to-face with a dragon who matched her features exactly.

Sunny quickly scanned Gila. She appeared more serious than Sunny, more skeletal than Sunny, and had lots of scars. She had a confused look and was tilting her head to the side. Sunny guessed Gila was just as astonished as she was.

"Nice to meet you, Sunny!" Gila said, smiling warmly at the SandWing.

"You too, Gila!" Sunny replied. She was wondering if her sister had any free time, so Sunny could get to know her better.

"So, Gila, you're the leader of the Outclaws now?" Sunny said, wanting to break the seemingly eternal silence.

"I sure am, since Mother doesn't have time to lead them, due to her being Queen and all," Gila said, waving a claw absentmindedly in the air.

"True," Sunny said, looking at her own claws. She flicked off a pesky beetle who had been annoying her ever since she was introduced to Gila. She nonchalantly popped it into her mouth.

Gila looked as if she was hungry, due to her yearning look at Sunny's claw where the beetle had been. She then looked at the Outclaws who where there, and flicked her talon towards the shops of the Scorpion Den, as if to shoo them away.

Six-Claws, Qibli, who had slipped in right after Sunny was introduced, and several other Outclaws complied Gila's orders and left the tent, leaving the two sisters alone.

"Okay, I was waiting for them to leave," Gila said, glancing in the Outclaws' direction who were walking off. She lighted down off her perch she had been on, landing several feet away from Sunny.

"So, Gila, how have I never seen you before?" Sunny asked. She was wearing a puzzled expression, and was staring into Gila's pure black eyes. "I visited the Kingdom of Sand twice, once a year ago and the other time on my hatching day. So why haven't we met?"

"Well..." Gila started trailing off. She cleared her throat, a sound Sunny only knew from when Starflight was telling a story or starting one of his many lectures. She flinched.

Gila swatted at a small lizard creeping near the tent, and swallowed it with a satisfied gulp.

"Well, Sunny, we're twins," Gila begun. "We had a huge egg, and those Talons of Peace or whatever they called themselves took me out of the egg. In the prophecy, they said there's only five dragonets, so they left me to die in the sand."

"That's horrible!" Sunny interrupted. She knew Dune, the dragonets' SandWing minder when they were under the mountain that found Sunny's egg was mean, but she hadn't known he was cruel.

"Dune could have left you with Mother!" Sunny said. "He could have given you to someone! For goodness sake, he-"

"Slow down, Sunny!" Gila said, finally getting a word in. "Explain. Who's Dune?"

"He was one of our minders under the mountain," Sunny answered, taking her sister's advice and taking a deep breath.

Now, something clicked in Sunny's mind. She remembered when the dragonets were still living under the mountain, after dark when Sunny couldn't sleep, she remembered one particular night full of information, information Sunny had totally forgotten in her sleep.

* * *

_It was way after dark, and Sunny could hear Clay's loud snore and Tsunami fidgeting on her ledge. Glory was a silent sleeper, with her prehensile tail dangling over the edge and ending up in its usual curl, and Starflight was up, reading a scroll as always. The SandWing had her body faced towards the wall._

_Sunny could her the clawing of talons on the ground as Starflight got up from his table to get a better candle._

_Sunny decided to flap over to her NightWing friend and see what exactly he was doing._

_"Sunny?" Starflight whispered, facing her. Sunny glanced back, as she had her gaze currently fixed on the quill stationed several inches away from the scroll. So he wasn't reading a scroll, he was writing one. Interesting._

_"That's me!" Sunny said, her tone louder than Starflight's had been. He promptly shushed her and stared out the opening to their sleeping cave._

_"Hush, Sunny!" Starflight glared softly into Sunny's eyes. She really wasn't comfortable with that, so she ducked away and tried to glance at the parchment on the table._

_Starflight appeared to be blocking the parchment, as if he didn't want her to see it. She wondered why._

_Does it have something like a secret or surprise on it? Sunny thought. Or is he just waiting for the time to be right. Knowing Starflight didn't keep secrets, she figured the latter was the correct guess._

_She lunged forward, like an animal, at the scroll. Starflight didn't have the best reflexes, but he promptly stopped Sunny with his body. She slammed into his hard, flat underbelly and barrelled towards the rocky, coarse ground. Starflight caught her with his front talons just in time._

_Good thing dragons can't blush, Sunny thought, embarrassed. Or else my scales would resemble Glory's._

_He set her down lightly and rubbed her skull with his knuckle firmly. She grinned up at her shy, nerdy friend._

_"Okay then," Starflight said, still hastily eyeing the door. It had a couple stalactites positioned on the ceiling in front of it, almost like sentries. Sunny had to admit was kind of eerie. The door led out into the study cave, then into the rooms Sunny didn't have names for. It seemed to Sunny Starflight's staring at the door was a nervous tic, as if the minders would burst in any moment. "Do you think we should get back in bed?"_

_"Yeah, maybe we should," Sunny replied, staring up at her dear friend. His nervous look told Sunny that her choice was probably the one Starflight wanted to hear._

_He flapped up onto his ledge, and Sunny climbed onto hers, as it was much lower to the ground._

_"Good night, Starflight!" Sunny said to the NightWing, who was nearly invisible in the inky blackness._

_Starflight merely nodded at Sunny and flopped down with an audible noise to match._

_Sunny was waiting for Starflight to fall asleep. When he did, Sunny had a plan._

_Starflight also snored, and when Sunny heard him, she quietly sat up and jumped to the floor._

_Across the small cavern, the table lay, with the faint glow of the candle illuminating a piece of parchment, a small cauldron of ink, and a quill, whose tip floated lazily in the murky black water._

_Sunny gently nudged it aside, and started to peek at the parchment. Starflight's writing was nice, so Sunny had no trouble reading the title, "Ways to Escape a Mountain"._

_The title perplexed Sunny, however. Why would Starflight want to leave? It was still 2 years before the dragonets would leave their home, so why? Would the others agree, if they knew? As Sunny pondered over the questions that lay before her, she heard the quiet rolling of a bottle and the faint smell of ink. She looked down and saw ink staining her back claws and hind legs._

_"Ewww!" Sunny said, glaring at her claws and legs, now stained the same color as Starflight's scales._

_Suddenly, there was a loud SMASH as the bottle shattered into many pieces on the floor. Sunny gasped loudly, and Clay fell of his perch, dazed and confused._

_"Sunny!" Clay said, remembering to keep a quiet tone. "What was that noise?"_

_"That was a cauldron of ink shattering on the ground," Sunny replied, looking up at her huge friend. He looked worried, an emotion that was usually not on his face. "I wanted to read Starflight's scroll, and I accidentally bumped it."_

_Clay nodded. Sunny heard a noise: heavy, sluggish footsteps. It wasn't Dune, he didn't make this much noise, as he only had one foot. It couldn't be Webs either, as he was barely able to be heard when he walked. She gulped. It was the dragonets' least favorite guardian, Kestrel. She was a SkyWing, and was always grumpy, and often berated, chastised, and picked on the five, in particular, Clay._

_"Hide!" Clay whispered in Sunny's ear. He ducked behind a large pillar of rock. Sunny was too paralyzed with fear to move, so when Kestrel stomped in, with Webs, who had been silently walking behind her, came in._

_"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU STUPID, USELESS DRAGONET?" Kestrel roared, waking up Glory, Tsunami, and Starflight, scaring Clay out of his hiding place. Sunny didn't care of she looked like a one-year-old dragonet, cowering in fear, but she was scared. Even Tsunami, who usually stood up to the guardians, was in a state of terror._

_"Um, I accidentally knocked over a bottle of ink..." Sunny whispered, cowering under Kestrel's huge size._

_"IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!" Kestrel yelled. Even normally calm, nice Webs looked unhappy._

_"GO TO BED," Kestrel yelled, glaring menacingly at Sunny. "NOW!"_

_Her and Clay zoomed up to their perches._

_Later, she was woken up by Kestrel's voice._

_"I just don't get that stupid SandWing creature," Kestrel explained. Sunny was not happy with Kestrel referring to her as a creature, but Sunny was more concerned with who Kestrel was talking to._

_"I would feel bad for her." said another voice. Sunny recognized it as Webs'._

_"Getting her twin sister taken away like that... eesh," Webs continued._

_The voices died down._

_Sunny was shocked. A sister? How?_

_Suddenly, Sunny felt the sweet embrace of sleep wrap her, though, and then all was black._

Sunny snapped out of the memory and looked up at Gila, who had been waiting patiently for a while.

"Gila," Sunny begun. "I remember late one night, the guardians mentioning it-"

"Sunny," Gila interrupted, beckoning her sister with one talon.

"Follow me. There's something I need to show you."

**_Okay, guys. Whoo! That was a way longer chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed! Maybe drop a favorite or a review, and stay tune for future chapters! Things are a bit hectic with school ending for the year (boo-yah!) and all, but I'll get the next part ready A.S.A.P.! See you guys later!_**


	3. Someone New

Chapter 3

Jeez, Sunny thought. Yet another surprise today. Wow, I'm on a roll. Sunny wondered if Gila meant in the Scorpion Den, not what lay before it. Sunny regarded that possibility as slim. To be fair, she didn't know her sister well enough to guess about things like that.

"Where do you mean?" Sunny inquired. Sunny was a tad shorter than Gila, forcing her to tilt her head slightly up to gaze into her sister's serious eyes.

"It's a surprise, silly!" Gila said, giggling, faking a cuff to Sunny's quivering snout.

Now, that doesn't help at all! Sunny thought, slightly angered. She wasn't really in the mood for jokes and silliness, she needed answers.

"I would like to know, Gila," Sunny said, failing to mask the annoyance she held in her voice. Gila stood stock still with shock painting her golden face, as if she expected Sunny to instantly comply and maybe get a platter of scavenger heads while she was at it.

That's what happens when a load of outlaws follow your every order, Sunny thought scoldingly. I sound so horrible! Sunny realized. She wasn't even sure what that expression on her sister's face ment. How mean would that be if I accused her? To think!

"Let's just say, someone you and I haven't seen for a while and that might know a little bit more about my past than I do," Gila replied, apparently getting the message Sunny ment business and didn't want games.

"Ok," Sunny replied, looking out on the happy dragons that populated the Scorpion Den. Very few of them, if any, were wearing the kind of scowl she was. She wiped her face clean into a non-forced smile.

"What are we waiting for, sis?" Gila asked, trying to get Sunny's attention by waving her talons in front of Sunny's face.

Sunny dazedly looked up at her. She was ready, although she didn't know about this. What if it was someone dangerous? Like, Peril, the SkyWing the dragonets met back in the Sky Kingdom, had been nice and helped her escape, and Sunny was sure she liked Clay romantically as well, was taken care of by Queen Scarlet, who wasn't nice at all. Sunny wasn't sure about her whereabouts, and she wasn't sure she wanted to be.

Oh well, Sunny thought. I'll just have to wing it.

"Why, y-yes I am!" Sunny finally replied, trying to again mask the emotions her voice brought along, in this case fear.

"Good!" Gila said, patting Sunny on the back with her claws, and lifted off. She hovered in the air a few feet away, and waved a talon to beckon Sunny to follow her. Sunny took to the sky.

Even though Sunny had been flying only an hour ago, she felt as if everything was new, even if she had circled the Scorpion Den from the other side as she flew in.

The desert looked even more beautiful to Sunny, now that the sun was setting. She identified the pinks and oranges and the yellows, and she secretly thanked Glory and the other RainWings for teaching her, Tsunami, Clay, and Starflight all the colors with their scales.

Her and Gila were chatting up a storm. We seem to fit together perfectly! Sunny thought has she flew by her sister's side. She then instantly thought of Starflight and Fatespeaker, how they were supposedly perfect together. She frowned, and Gila saw her face fall.

"What's wrong, Sunny?" Gila said. Sunny could tell she wasn't happy with Sunny's sudden crestfallen expression. Sunny guessed Gila thought she had gotten hurt on a cactus or a jagger bush.

Sunny was hesitant to answer. Do I really want her to know about Starflight? she asked herself. Sunny bet it was fine.

Sunny cleared her throat and begun, staring at her sister's attentive and eager face.

"Well, there's this NightWing I know," Sunny said. "A NightWing, I know. Shocking." Sunny surveyed Gila's look. She appeared interested. Seeing this, Sunny continued. "We lived under a mountain together with a SeaWing, a MudWing, and a RainWing."

"But, I thought there was a SkyWing in the prophecy, not a RainWing," Gila said, with a perplexed look plastering her face.

"Well, we didn't get much information, all we know is that the night before we hatched Queen Burn found the egg and dropped from a mountain peak, and she hoped to stop the prophecy that way," Sunny explained, seeing her sister nod, acknowledging that she now understood. "But, Gila..." Sunny started.

"What?" Gila asked, interested. Sunny lighted down on the sand nearby, and Gila followed, accidentally scratching her whip-thin tail on a cactus. She cried out, and pulled her tail back indignantly.

"The prophecy isn't real," Sunny told her sister.

Gila looked like she had just witnessed a friend's death. It saddened Sunny to see her sister so destroyed, but Sunny felt she had had to tell her.

Sunny patted Gila on the back. "It's all right, Gila," Sunny said to her sister. "I think I was more destroyed when I found out."

Gila smiled weakly, relieving Sunny of the grief that had been there.

The two sisters decided to rest and hunt. Sunny spotted a prairie dog running along the desert sand and shot after it. Much to Sunny's chagrin, the animal slipped under her talons into a hole in the ground. She looked over at Gila and saw a dead roadrunner in her talons.

"How did you manage to catch one of those?" Sunny asked, eyeing the dead bird hungrily.

"Trapped it in a hole in the ground," Gila said, gently setting the creature down on the warm desert sand.

"I see," Sunny muttered. She teared off the wing of the bird and started to nibble on it thoughtfully.

"So, what where you telling me about this NightWing?" Gila asked. She was chewing a foot.

"Oh! Well then," Sunny said, regaining her composure. "His name is Starflight. When us five lived under the mountain," Sunny said, jabbing a claw north, in the direction of the Sky Kingdom.

"He had a huge crush on me," Sunny begun again. "He was nice, and all that, but I didn't exactly return the favor. I just thought of him as my brother. Now, he found another NightWing named Fatespeaker, who's uncannily similar to me, and now he loves her instead. The rest of my friends are all in love, too, and I kind of just feel left out," Sunny said. She sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. She really missed her friends a lot. Mostly Starflight.

"Don't worry, it's all right," Gila consoled. "I know you miss him, but everything will be fine. Trust me."

"Ok," Sunny replied, taking her sister's advice.

"Do you think we should keep pushing on?" Gila asked. She jabbed a claw at the sun, which was very low in the sky.

Sunny nodded, and the two sisters took off.

They flew in silence, stopping a few times to get untangled from unseen hazards.

Much later, the two sisters heard scuffling in the darkness.

Sunny and Gila found a small plank of wood on the desert sand and Gila lit it with a puff of flame. Sunny held it up, squinting at the light.

She saw a SandWing not much bigger than she was, and by the looks of it, not much older. He facing off with something. That creature was invisible, as the light from their makeshift torch didn't stretch that far. Sunny stepped forward and revealed a trembling scavenger, with wide eyes and a scared expression. He didn't carry one of those claw-type things scavengers carried, and was shorter than most of them she had seen. She guessed he was not yet fully grown.

"Hey, stop that!" Sunny yelled at the SandWing. She wasn't a scavenger, but she didn't like to see them abused by dragons. She never ate them, as she felt they were just like dragons, trying to survive in this hostile world.

The SandWing was distracted by her yell and turned around. The scavenger ran away, and the mysterious dragon growled in fury.

"You made me lose my prey!" he yelled hotly at Sunny, clearly angry.

Sunny studied his face. He appeared very handsome to Sunny, and she smiled at him. He smiled back, and Gila started giggling quietly, earning a hard cuff to the snout.

"Ow!" Gila cried, hitting the ground hard.

Sunny picked her up, and the handsome SandWing spoke.

"Why are you guys out here? I thought I was the only one who lived here," he said.

"What do you mean?" Sunny asked.

"I mean, I barely ever see other dragons. I live out here in solitude. My parents were killed in an attack by Burn's forces a year after I was born. I was alone out here, and I had to survive by myself."

Sunny was shocked. I thought my upbringing was bad! she said.

Gila had a sympathetic look. "I understand," Sunny heard Gila say to him. "I was the same way." They both ducked their heads in silence.

Gila quickly explained what had happened to the SandWing, and Sunny waited patiently for her to finish.

When she did, Sunny spoke up. "What is your name?" she asked the SandWing. "Mine's Sunny, and this Gila."

"Cool names!" he remarked with a smile. "Nice to meet you! I'm Dusty, but you can call me Dusty," he said, and all three of them laughed.

"So, Dusty, we must be going," Gila said.

Sunny was disappointed. She desperately wanted to stay and keep talking to her new friend.

"That's okay!" Dusty said to the two.

Sunny's face lit up as she thought of a way to stay with her new friend.

"Gee, it's sure getting dark," Sunny added, pointing at the moons, which were casting a dim glow on Pyrrhia. Dusty and Gila nodded.

"Why don't we sleep here?" Sunny asked, looking with a hopeful expression at her sister.

"Fine..." Gila said. She clearly didn't like Dusty's company. She probably wanted to get going to meet this dragon she was so eager about.

"Yay!" Dusty and Sunny cried in unison. "Someone to spend time with that isn't crazy or sadistic!" the male SandWing added. Sunny wondered what he was referring to. There were probably a lot of crazy dragons out in this desert who wouldn't mind having a dragonet as a snack.

Dusty flew over to a hammock Sunny guessed he had fashioned himself. He beckoned the sisters over. He, to Sunny's surprise, let Sunny curl inside it, and laid down on the desert sand, followed by Gila.

"Good night, everyone," Sunny said.

As she said that, sleep started to overtake her and she fell into peaceful slumber.

* * *

Sunny woke up, and blinked her eyes at the fierce, relentless desert sun. Gila was awake and chewing neatly on the roadrunner from yesterday, and Dusty was chasing after a small horned lizard.

She sluggishly got out of the hammock.

"Good morning, Sunny!" Gila said to her sister, looking wistfully at the distance.

"Good morning," Sunny mumbled. She was still quite tired.

"We should get going so we can meet that dragon I was telling you about yesterday!" Gila said, excitedly. She seemed to have snapped out of her previous sour mood.

"Yeah, we should," Sunny agreed. It was nice to meet Dusty, but it was a good idea to start heading off.

Sunny walked up to Dusty. He had started a fire and was scorching his lizard. He noticed Sunny and ripped of the tail for her to eat. She accepted it happily.

"Thanks!" Sunny said. She turned to face Dusty. "Hey, Dusty, Gila and I are going to leave now. It was nice meeting you! Bye!"

Dusty looked crestfallen. He waved and smiled weakly in her direction.

"Bye," Dusty said. He turned back to his meal.

Sunny was sorry she had saddened him. I don't even know why he's sad, Sunny thought.

Gila tapped her on the shoulder and took flight. Sunny looked back and then followed her sister.

They were flying due northeast, and in late afternoon, they finally stopped at the foot of the highest point in Pyrrhia, Jade Mountain.

Sunny perked up. She knew her father lived here, and she couldn't wait to see him again. She soared up the peak to his usual spot, with Gila close behind. She looked just as happy as Sunny herself did.

To Sunny's surprise, he wasn't there.

Where could he be? Sunny panicked. She looked all around the area, but she still couldn't spot him.

Sunny heard a gasp, and some struggling in the air. The gasp sounded like Gila.

She turned to the sight of her father, fighting a group of NightWings.

Sunny and Gila clutched each other in horror.

**_Wow! That was longer than the last one! Stay tuned for the next part! YAYYY! :-)_**


	4. A Familiar Face

Chapter 4

Sunny let go of Gila. She took a deep breath and quickly counted how many NightWings her father was sparring with. She counted 5. Although, Sunny had grave doubts brittle old Stonemover could take 5 NightWings all by himself.

A NightWing fell to the ground, getting speared on a peak below. Sunny and Gila flinched at the disgusting death. Ewww, Sunny thought. Good thing that wasn't my father.

Sunny thought to herself, If my dad can't fight off them, shouldn't I help out? She glanced to the side. Gila looked like she was contemplating the same thing. The two sisters nodded and took to the air.

It was an aerial battle, so Sunny snuck under the pack, and Gila circled overhead.

Stonemover was at the top of the pack, so Sunny knew she wouldn't hurt her father if she bit a random tail, and she was right.

"YOWWWWCH!" a skeletal NightWing cried, whipping his thick tail all around. It barely missed Sunny's cheek.

Sunny remembered a way she used to fight under the mountain, where she would stab her harmless tail into her friends' backs. She hit a pressure point almost every time, and they stiffened for a second or two, opening an opportunity to strike.

She flew over to Gila, and saw she wasn't much of a fighter either. Sunny whispered the technique into Gila's ear, and her face lit up.

She saw Gila swoop in, stiffening a NightWing almost perfectly, on her first try nonetheless.

Stonemover smiled down at his daughters, who he hadn't noticed before, and scratched the NightWing devastatingly in the wings. He then shoved him and the NightWing fell to the ground, plummeting to his death.

A few seconds later, Sunny heard a loud crack as the NightWing's bones broke on the firm soil and rocks below.

Sunny stiffened another, and tried inflicting damage on him instead, as her father and Gila were preoccupied with the two other remaining NightWings. Much to Sunny's chagrin, her claws bounced right off unseen black armor on the NightWing's black underscales. Sunny cursed under her breath.

Sunny gasped, as the huge NightWing came to his senses. He breathed a large plume of fire in her direction, and she dodged it, thanks to the hissing sound fire breath makes before it is exhaled.

She also breathed a small burst of flame, making contact with the NightWing's armor, making it melt off his scales. It apparently wasn't fireproof, Sunny thought.

She whipped him in the face with her tail, doing little damage.

"You think you take me, you little flea?" the huge NightWing roared. "Stunted SandWing."

Sunny noticed the outraged creature's face was a little saggy, as if he had experienced extreme heat and it melted him a bit somehow. Now that she looked, the NightWing was eerily familiar somehow.

She shrugged and kept fighting, and it was clear she would probably lose. She mentally sized him up to the other two, and noticed he was a lot larger. She tried to fly away, and assist her sister or father, but her opponent was too fast. He grabbed Sunny by the back of her neck, and had her face him.

"Fight me," he said menacingly. His voice wasn't familiar, it was deeper than the voice of any NightWing she'd ever met. "Or you will die more painfully than I plan to kill you right now."

Sunny gulped. "Okay," she managed. To her surprise, the NightWing set her down.

He stared right into her eyes, and started to circle Sunny as a dragon would do to its prey. When the huge dragon started forward, she zoomed up into the air, barely escaping his grasp. While she had a moment of time to look around, she noticed one NightWing dead on the stone, blood everywhere, and Gila and Stonemover working together to fight the remaining one, minus the one she was fighting.

Since she was looking at her sister and father, she didn't notice the tail that came barreling towards her. So when she blacked out, she was unaware of how it happened.

* * *

Sunny opened her eyes and saw two dragons above her. One was Gila, and the other a NightWing. She gasped and clawed frantically at the NightWing's snout. He feigned the attack, and she heard him speak in a raspy voice.

"Sunny, it's all right," Stonemover said. "It's just me, your father. All those hostile NightWings are gone."

Sunny looked around for a second and saw that four of the five NightWings they had fought were dead. One was gone. The gone one just so happened to be the one she had sparred with.

"Now, you've got some bruises and wounds, but we'll fix those up real quick," Gila said, as she smeared a weird ointment on Sunny's wounds. It smelled like the desert to Sunny.

"Thanks," Sunny said, getting up off the ground and checking her wings for any rips. Luckily, there were none. She hugged Gila and her father.

Sunny was still perplexed by one thing, however. "What happened to that last NightWing?" she inquired to her father.

Stonemover looked as if he had been expecting her to say that. "He flew away as we killed his last comrade," he answered. "Coward."

Sunny looked up at her father. "Did you notice... anything familiar about that NightWing?" Sunny asked, thinking her father would know. He was a NightWing, after all.

"I can't say that I have, dear," he replied. He was reaching towards a small bird who had perched on the ledge, to listen in on their conversation.

"Shoo!" Stonemover said. The bird squawked indignantly. "Fine!" it yelled back, as it flew off.

"Pesky animals," Stonemover muttered under his breath. Dinner, Stonemover's pet fox, wandered in, as if he had heard that. "Of course, not you, Dinner," he apologized, rubbing his pet gently on the head. Dinner nuzzled up against him and barked happily when he recognized Sunny.

"Hey, you little rascal," she said to him jokingly, and he seemed to know it was a joke.

Gila hugged her sister, and whispered, "I'm so glad you're all right."

She set down Sunny and went to go talk to Stonemover.

Sunny looked out in the distance, and saw nothing of interest, just a couple dragons doing construction on the school. It was starting to shape up.

Sunny swooped on a small bird that landed there: it looked like the one from before. She quickly ate it.

She unintentionally heard what her father and Gila were discussing. "Dad, why did those dragons come?" Gila inquired, puzzled. "I mean, you're a NightWing too!" Sunny was secretly thinking about asking that question too.

"Well..." Stonemover trailed off. He looked down at his talons. He clearly had something to hide.

"How about it, dad?" Sunny jumped in. She knew Gila would wait patiently, but Sunny didn't wait for Stonemover to reply.

Stonemover took a deep breath. Sunny knew he would have to face the inevitable and tell his daughters. "Well, I'm helping someone hide from those NightWings," he replied. He had a firm tone and spoke quickly, as if he didn't want Gila and Sunny to get all of it. So far, Sunny caught it all, as she talked fast herself and was proficient in that regard. "I'm not really sure she wants visitors right now..."

"Can we please see her?" Gila asked eagerly. Sunny wanted to know why her father was being so vague.

"She-" he begun. He seemed to remember something more important. "Make sure you don't tell anyone about her! It's a secret!" he chastised.

He then changed the subject. "How about we go out and hunt?"

"Doesn't Dinner usually do that?" Sunny asked, petting the loveable fox at her side.

"I just thought it would be fun," Stonemover explained. "Plus, don't we all sometimes need to chip in?" He seemed eager to leave the cave.

Perhaps he thinks more NightWings will attack, Sunny thought. I'd say he's fine.

Sunny shrugged and heard Gila speak. "Sure, Dad," she consented. "This ought to be fun!"

"Do you not hunt too often?" Stonemover asked Gila, interested.

"No, you don't get much time as the leader of the Outclaws," Gila replied.

The three dragons took off to the sky, and Sunny was itching to ask about the mysterious dragon. Then, she remembered.

Oh my gosh, Sunny thought. I forgot the whole reason we came in the first place. How could I have forgotten? Of course, I forgot in the midst of that skirmish, then I was knocked out.

"Dad?" Sunny asked, trying to get her father's attention averted to her. Her attempt was feeble, as him and Gila were chatting and giggling like dragonets.

She rolled her eyes and continued flying.

* * *

Hours later, they arrived back at the cave, eating a dead jackrabbit from the desert.

Sunny had almost forgotten why they had came again in the thrill of the hunt, but she remembered as soon as they lighted down.

"Dad?" Sunny called.

"Yes, Sunny?" Stonemover answered. He was a lot happier surrounded by some of his family, Sunny could tell.

"I was wondering- how did Gila survive out in the desert?" Sunny asked. "Alone?"

Gila didn't seem to remember, and neither did Stonemover. Sunny scowled uncharacteristically.

"Well, why didn't Dune just give Gila's egg to you or Mother?" Sunny asked. She wanted at least one of her questions to have an answer.

"Well," he began to answer. "He actually gave her egg to me. One day, though, a group of SandWings stole her away, and I have no idea what they did to her. But, apparently," he patted Gila on the head. "she found her way back!"

Sunny nodded and looked off, thinking.

Gila spoke. "I have no idea what they did either," she said. "They must of used something when they were done to make me forget."

"Ah," Sunny said, looking up at her sister.

"So, Dad?" Gila said. "How about that dragon you mentioned before?"

"All right," Stonemover said to his two eager daughters. "Since you did so well in the hunt, I'll reward you. But you must never tell anyone."

"All right!" they said in unison.

Stonemover led them into the back of his cave, into where he slept. There was a room with a wooden door, which he knocked on. "Luna!" he said. "Come out! Someone wants to meet you! Also, they're not evil!"

There was no response.

"Luna?" Stonemover said, clearly worried. He opened the door.

No one was there. The three dragons split up and checked all around the cave. The outcome, however, was clear to Sunny.

Whoever this "Luna" was, Sunny thought. She had either gone off by herself, or she had been taken.

Sunny hoped it was the former, although something told her that wasn't correct.

_**Hey, guys! Sorry I didn't upload yesterday: last day of school. Yay! Anyway, I'll be uploading every day, if I can, because of all this free time. Cheers!**_


	5. Finding Luna

Chapter 5

In Stonemover's cave, high up on Jade Mountain, everyone was in a frenzy. According to Stonemover, Luna was very special, but he wouldn't tell Sunny and Gila why.

"Dad, who's Luna?" Sunny pleaded, wanting a sincere answer.

"She's a refugee from the war," Stonemover replied hazily.

"A refugee?" Gila asked. "Dad, the war was a whole year ago! A refugee would probably be back with whomever they swear allegiance to in a whole year. Right?" Sunny thought that over, and she thought it made sense.

Stonemover looked shocked, as if expected no questions. He twiddled his talons nervously, leading Sunny to believe he was hiding something.

"Okay, you've got me there," Stonemover sighed, looking down at his daughters. "You're a lot smarter than I thought before." Sunny was slightly offended by this, although Gila took it as a compliment. "It wasn't the Great War, but it was a war."

"Which war, Dad?" Gila asked eagerly.

Stonemover shook his head. "No, it's a secret to everybody," he said. "If the wrong dragon knew, the whole world could be in danger."

"So, can we go out and find Luna, Dad?" Sunny asked her father, crossing her talons he'd say yes.

Stonemover looked at Sunny. "You really want to go find her?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Sunny asked. She was genuinely confused. She looked outside, and saw a beautiful day displayed in front of her, one of the best she'd seen in a long time. The birds were singing, there were nice, fluffy clouds lining the sky, and the flowers practically glowed with beauty.

"Because, I'm almost certain she was taken, and I'm pretty sure on the whom as well," Stonemover told Sunny. "I'm pretty sure it was the NightWings."

"How?" Gila asked, taken aback. "We killed them, and that one we left flew away to who-knows-where!"

"Well, there are more NightWings, Gila," Sunny told her sister.

"Oh," Gila replied. "I didn't think about that. I thought just those five wanted to steal innocent creatures."

"Oh, heavens no," Stonemover said, waving a talon dismissively. "Almost all the NightWings I've met, excluding Deathbringer, Fatespeaker, and Starflight, are all psycho and wouldn't mind if they had to kidnap an innocent dragon. No sir."

There it was again. Starflight, Sunny thought. I miss my friends so much I can't stand it.

She quickly dismissed that thought, as Sunny didn't want to get all teary-eyed in front of her sister and her father.

Gila broke the silence. "Hey, can we go out and find Luna now?" she asked Stonemover.

"Why not?" Stonemover said. His face clearly said, Three moons, no. Sunny wished Stonemover wouldn't voice his true opinion before they could leave.

Gila seemed to notice this too, so Sunny and her sister exchanged glances and walked to the cave mouth. They both hastily leaped out and hovered in the air, waiting for their father.

Stonemover shrugged at Sunny and jumped out after them.

"So, what does Luna look like, Dad?" Sunny asked.

"Well, she looks peculiar," Stomemover replied, keeping his head forward, averting his eyes away from his daughters.

"Peculiar how?" Sunny asked.

"Peculiar like no dragon you've ever seen before," Stonemover answered.

Wow, Sunny thought sarcastically, looking over at her oblivious father. That was so helpful. I wonder why he's so dead set on not telling anyone. Especially his own daughters!

Gila flew over to Sunny, and Sunny's sister guided her safe out of Stonemover's earshot.

"Do you really think it was the NightWings?" Gila asked. "I think it might have been someone else. I'm betting it's the SandWings."

"How?" Sunny asked, betting she was right about it being NightWings. "Do you have any clue why it's the SandWings?"

"Well," Gila replied. "I think it's the SandWings mainly because of how close Jade Mountain is away from the Kingdom of Sand."

"That's it?" Sunny asked when Gila failed to say anything else.

"No!" Gila said hurriedly, waving her talons. "I have one more reason! Ummm... yeah, that's it." Sunny saw Gila's face fall as she looked down at her talons.

"Okay," Sunny muttered, staring forward. What business did any dragon have with a war refugee? Sunny thought. Especially now, since Pyrrhia is at peace! It is, right?

Sunny sure did hope that she was right. The last thing the seven kingdoms needed was another war.

Sunny wished her father would stop being so unhelpful and actually give them answers. She decided not to bother him anymore, as that would probably decrease her chances of getting an answer. She decided just to wait and see.

The three kept flying for an hour, with nothing too eventful going on, if you don't count when Sunny and Gila took those cactus spines out of Stonemover's backside.

The three lighted down for a short rest break. Sunny and Stonemover in particular were breathing heavily. Gila was not, and Sunny guesses she knew the air currents better. They were flying to the shared NightWing and RainWing kingdom, and Sunny was ecstatic.

Yes! Sunny thought. After 6 months of near isolation, I finally will get to see some familiar faces!

She simply couldn't wait to see Glory, Deathbringer, and Tsunami, since she was there as the RainWing's general. Tsunami, the last time Sunny had seen her at least, she was on her weekly 3-day break. Luckily, they were almost to the RainWing and NightWing kingdom, and it was a day Tsunami would be training Glory's subjects.

Sunny noticed in her peripheral vision Gila staring at her. Sunny yelped and looked back.

"Sorry I scared you, Sunny," Gila apologized. Sunny forgave her, and Gila continued.

"Okay, why are you so excited? You've been kind of mopey lately."

Sunny thought for a second, and noticed she hadn't been as lately as she usually was. She acknowledged this and answered her sister. "Not to toot my own horn, but I'm usually cheery," she told her sister, who seemed to think that was true. Sunny was happy Gila didn't guess she was lying. "I guess I just got back to my usual self, since I'm going to see my friends again."

Sunny could see Gila's face fall, and she appeared close to tears. "Wh-what?" she said. "I thought I was your friend!"

Sunny was devastated. I didn't mean to make her sad! Sunny thought. Three moons, no!

"Of course you are, Gila!" Sunny consoled. "I- uh..."

Sunny didn't say anymore as she saw the smile break across Gila's golden face.

Sunny smiled, too, and they kept flying and chatting simultaneously.

Later, Sunny, Gila, and Stonemover lighted down at the tunnel to the rainforest, and Sunny almost died of excitement.

"Let's go!" Sunny yelled, leaving Gila and Stonemover dumbfounded behind her. Sunny walked through the tunnel, and saw Gila admiring her father's handiwork. Sunny saw the NightWing's proud expression.

Sunny and her sister thought the rainforest was rather cold, being in a warm desert for a long time, Gila more so than Sunny, who had only spent the last few days in the desert sun. Stonemover, however, had been on a high mountain peak and was sweating and panting already.

They made their way to the main forest, and saw the RainWings were having sun time, so there weren't guards posted with sleeping dart guns. Tsunami wasn't asleep, however, but she somehow didn't notice the two golden figures and the one black one.

She was in the hut where the dragonets had been before, when they had met Mangrove and visited Queen Magnificent.

Sunny wanted to yell, Tsunami! Over here! Just as she was about to open her mouth, her father covered her mouth.

"Sunny!" Stonemover whispered. "We can't be distracted. We must save Luna!"

Sunny rolled her eyes, and followed what was asked of her. They took the short flight over to the new NightWing kingdom, and a few minutes later they lighted down to the sight of about 50 black dragons. There was no commotion from inside their huts, so Sunny guessed they were all outside.

That's odd, Sunny thought. There aren't this few of the NightWings! Where are the rest?

"Come down here!" Stonemover yelled, beckoning over the few NightWings that were there. They all lighted down.

"What do you want?" one of them asked. Sunny recognized the dragon as Fierceteeth, Starflight's half-sister. She had been one of the dragons that had kidnapped her before. Sunny silently snarled.

"We would like to know," Stonemover said, quickly clearing his throat. "Have any of you seen a peculiar-looking dragon around here?"

There were a few murmurs among the NightWings, but then one stepped forward and answered "No, we haven't," with a sincere look. Not one of the dragons looked like they were hiding anything.

Sunny, Stonemover, and Gila talked amongst themselves, and decided they would believe them.

"Thanks!" Stonemover yelled back. He plastered a furious, but worried look on his face as soon as they left.

"Shoot," Sunny heard her father mutter under his breath. He beckoned his daughters down with a wave of a talon. All three of them lighted down. Stonemover started to talk.

"Well, what do we do now?" he offered.

Sunny thought, and realized something. Wouldn't the old NightWing kingdom be recovered by now? I mean, the eruption was a year ago, it should be fine by now!

Sunny decided to voice her opinion. "Hey guys," she said. "I have an idea."

Stonemover and Gila peered over at Sunny, with hopeful looks on their faces. She hoped this plan would work, and that she wouldn't let her father and sister down.

She led them to the tunnels to the SandWing and old NightWing kingdoms.

"So, what's the plan, general?" Gila said jokingly.

"Well," Sunny explained. This is it, she thought. My chance. "I thought that we could check the old NightWing kingdom."

"WHAT?" Stonemover yelped. "No offense, Sunny, but are you crazy?" Gila nodded in agreement.

"No, I have a theory," Sunny thought. "I bet the kingdom is cooled down and recovered from the eruption. I mean, it's been a whole year."

"True," Gila mused. She stared at Sunny as if she'd trust her sister with her life. "I'll go in first. If I don't come out, don't follow."

Sunny gasped. "Gila, are you sure? I proposed the idea, so shouldn't I go?" she said, terrified. Stonemover didn't look too pleased, either.

"Don't worry," she said. It seemed like she had borrowed Tsunami's courage.

She leaped in the tunnel. Sunny put her talons over her eyes.

When she took them off, Gila stood before her.

"Come on," Gila told Sunny and Stonemover. "Let's go."

Sunny got up and followed her sister, with Stonemover not far behind.

After she got through the tunnel, she looked around. The NightWing kingdom didn't actually look too much different, if you didn't count the holes and new paths the lava made.

She promptly heard a commotion coming from the fortress, which was nearly completely ravaged, and knew that was where the NightWings were.

They all flew so their footsteps wouldn't be heard, but Sunny and Gila whispered amongst each other as they silently made their way to the fortress.

Sunny and Gila looked around as they chatted, and saw something odd.

There was a small, gold dragon with orange spots the color of the lava below that looked completely unfamiliar to her. The dragon had an odd glow emitting from their scales. This dragon had something that seemed like a textureless blackness in front of them, which was peculiar to Sunny. The dragon was standing stock-still with a worried look on their face.

Upon closer inspection, the dragon was not alone. The textureless blackness was actually another dragon, who wasn't familiar either.

The second dragon was dark, dark purple and black in color. The dragon seemed to be holding a small wooden thing Sunny couldn't identify. The dragon was also holding a shushing talon to their mouth and staring right at Sunny.

Then she gasped.

She recognized these two dragons.

_**Okay guys, this is my favorite chapter so far! You better get ready for a treasure trove of spoilers, because that's exactly what next chapter will be filled with! Here's a challenge: who is the dragon at the end? Comment in the reviews who you think it is!**_


	6. A Tale of Secrets

Chapter 6

Oh my gosh, Sunny thought. I can't believe it. It's actually Starflight.

The first thought that came to Sunny's mind was, How did he get here? After all, Starflight was blind. She figured he had guessed the old NightWing kingdom was safe to enter, too.

But who's that other dragon? Sunny thought. I've never seen her before.

Sunny wanted to go over, give Starflight a big hug, and have a party. Though she knew if she did, she and Starflight would both be killed on sight, and most likely her father too, so she kept quiet.

She flew as silently as she could over to her friend. "Starflight!" she whispered. "It's me, Sunny! Where's Fatespeaker? How'd you get here?" She pointed down at the small yellow dragon cowering there. "Also, who-"

"Wow, Sunny, slow down!" Starflight said. He nuzzled near where Sunny was, but it was okay. She knew he meant to be affectionate. She smiled, but of course he couldn't see it.

"Fatespeaker's back in our hut in the rainforest," he started. "Also, I got here thanks to Luna."

"LUNA?" Sunny said, a little too loudly. Starflight shushed her. "Starflight, you kidnapped Luna? How could you?" Sunny gave him an indignant look, and instantly remembered he couldn't see. She pressed a talon to her face, and flew off, upset. I thought I could trust him! she thought, practically crying. He was always so trustworthy! I-

"Sunny!" she heard Starflight say. "Come back!" She considered this. Should I? she thought. Her kindness got the best of her, and she turned back, and landed down next to her blind friend. Well, she hoped they were still friends.

"Sunny, let me explain," he said, looking in her general direction. "Your dad and I had a deal."

"A deal?" Sunny said, surprised. "Stonemover never told me you two had a deal of any sort!"

"I bet he just forgot," Starflight said. "After all, he is quite old." He looked at Sunny, even though she knew there was pure blackness in his field of vision. "No offense."

"None taken," she replied. She studied him silently, since he couldn't see her staring. He had long stripes running down his scales, a little darker in color than the scales they were surrounded by, and Sunny knew they were from the burns Morrowseer had given him, the ones he was blind because of. He wasn't too much bigger than Sunny, still, but the gap had increased between their sizes. The burns were healed, so he looked normal as ever, except for the scars and the larger size.

"Well, this is a long story, so get ready," Starflight said. "It won't be boring, don't worry." Starflight chuckled, apparently self-aware his lectures bored everyone in a mile radius.

Starflight cleared his throat, and begun his story.

"It all started a couple months after we saved the world. I was practicing flying with Tamarin, and Fatespeaker was there, making sure we didn't kill ourselves by headbutting a tree." Starflight smiled. Sunny knew Fatespeaker was one of the only happy things in his life, and she hoped she herself was one, too.

"Anyway, we encountered a gold and orange dragon while we were practicing, and we were perplexed," Starflight said. He nudged Luna. "We'd never seen something like that before! Well, I can't see, but you get my point. She explained something to us." He looked in Luna's direction. "Luna, do you want to continue?"

"Sure, but I want to start a little earlier on," Luna said. Her voice was like a river, flowing so smoothly. "Well, the NightWings captured me, to harness my powers. They captured my son, Sol, as well." She hastily eyed the NightWing fortress.

Powers? Sunny thought. What kind of powers? It would be kind of rude to ask now, so I'll ask later.

"One day, after an experiment, Sol and I tried to escape. I was successful, but unfortunately, I couldn't save him. On my way back to my home, I ran into two more NightWings and a RainWing, and I was scared they were the evil NightWings. They were not, and they helped me get back. Unfortunately, the weather got so bad that we had to stay at Jade Mountain one night. We met another NightWing named Stonemover, your father."

"Continue," Sunny encouraged Luna.

"Alright," Luna said, clearing her throat. "Well, Starflight and Stonemover made a deal with me, that they would come help me find my son in 6 months' time. This was the deal, so that's why I got captured."

"Oh," Sunny realized, silently reconciling with Starflight in her head. So he's not bad, Sunny thought. How foolish I am!

"So, you guys are here to save Sol?" Sunny offered. "What an awesome name."

"Thanks, thought of it myself," Luna said. She seemed very kind to Sunny, but she wondered: What kind of dragon is Luna? She looked different than any other dragon Sunny had ever seen, with serrated horns, those gold and orange scales, and the glow she seemed to naturally give off.

"Luna?" Sunny asked. The mysterious dragon looked up. "What kind of dragon are you, like what tribe?"

"A good question," Luna remarked. "Actually, only Starflight, Stonemover, some of those blasted NightWings, and me know."

"I'm from a tribe called the LightWings."

* * *

"LIGHTWINGS?" Sunny said much too loudly. She hoped she hadn't alerted any guards of her presence.

"Yes, LightWings," Luna remarked nonchalantly.

"Allow me to explain, Sunny," Starflight said in his famous top-of-the-class voice. "Ahem. The LightWings, much like the NightWings did, live on a secluded island off the coast of Pyrrhia, although there's no tunnel to get there. They starve, not because their prey is underfed and dying, it is because the island refuses to yield much prey, but why this occurs is a mystery no one has solved. The conditions around the island are terrible, so they can't simply fly to the continent. The only reason Luna and Sol made it is because the NightWings stole them out of their home."

"Wow, Starflight, slow down," Sunny said. "I can't hold as much brain capacity as you."

"Thanks," he said. If dragons could blush, Sunny could tell he would be the color of Glory's brother, Jambu.

"So, why did the NightWings steal Luna and Sol?" Sunny asked.

To her surprise, the medium-sized LightWing answered. "Well, they wanted to harness my powers, and the reason they got here was because they had protective armor, and blocked us with it."

"Wha?" Sunny said. Oddly enough, Sunny was thinking of asking that question next. She wondered if Luna had a sense of precognition, was just guessing, or she was lying like the NightWings had and was just lucky on her guess. Sunny shook it off and proceeded to ask another question. "What powers do you have?"

"Well," Luna said, turning around. "My scales work like a torch. I can control how bright they can get." With that, Sunny saw her tense as her scales lit up much lighter than SeaWing stripes.

"Also, when it's light enough, I can concentrate energy into my scales, and do this," Luna said. Sunny guessed the torch nearby was enough light as Luna disintegrated a rock with a blast of light from a spot on her forehead. "Finally, we can read minds and breathe fire."

"Wow," Sunny said, in awe.

"Hey guys," Starflight said, holding his cane out at a small pile of rocks. "Look, there's some rocks and the lava. Want to throw them in and try to skip them?"

They all decided to, and laughed as they watched (besides Starflight) as the orange, hot liquid splashed up as the stones hit the lava.

But, all three were shocked as Gila and Stonemover flew over to where they were.

Gila was frantically jumping around, and Stonemover looked worried. "Guys," Gila said. "We're not sure, buuuuuuut..."

"I think we alerted the NightWings we're here."

**_Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, guys. I will try to upload every day, if I can. Thanks, tune in for the next part!_**


	7. Caught

Chapter 7

Sunny internally panicked. "The NightWings? How do you know they found us, and how many are there?" she asked Gila.

"I'm not sure how many there are," Gila answered. "However, I do know that they found us from something someone did." Sunny glanced at Gila's disapproving look in Stonemover's direction.

"I'm sorry," he said, with an ashamed look plastering his face. "I can't control my scales, you know."

Sunny knew Stonemover wouldn't finish, so she gave a look in Gila direction that said, Explain.

"Ok," Gila said, looking away from their father. She begun. "We were flying around, silently, mind you, but then something unexpected happened. An albatross that had survived the explosion came up and bumped hard into Stonemover," she said, looking at the two dragons' father.

"A regular dragon's scales would have made no noise making impact with a hard wall," Stonemover explained, jumping in. "Mine being nearly all stone, there was this loud, resounding sound that was produced upon impact."

"Eeeeshh," Sunny said. "That makes sense."

"I heard it," Starflight spoke up. There were a few nods around.

"So, what shall we do?" Luna asked, sharpening her claws on a rock.

"Well, I figure if they know you're here they'll target us even more," Starflight pointed out. "So, let's get Stonemover to hide Luna with his scales. Find a dark place."

"Ok," Luna replied, and beckoned Stonemover to follow her, leaving just Sunny, Gila, and Starflight.

"So what now?" Sunny asked her sister and friend.

"What now?" Starflight echoed. "Now, we need to use a plan."

"A plan?" Gila asked. "How about we go in and fight? Because I can do that."

Sunny looked at Starflight, who was peering in her direction. "Sunny and I are kind of bad at fighting," Starflight said. "We'd probably get our faces ripped off. Or worse, since we're the 'dragonets of destiny.'"

"That war was a year ago," Gila said.

"True," Sunny replied.

"We've still got a lot of enemies, though," Starflight pointed out. "Scarlet wants us dead, Ruby most likely wants us dead, and more than half of the NightWings want me dead, but any of us would suffice to them."

"So, how do we go about this?" Gila said.

"Here's my plan," Sunny suggested, clearing her throat. "We go in covertly, which means one of us will help Starflight."

"Sunny can," he said. "If she's fine with having to lug me around." He laughed nervously.

"Sure," Sunny agreed, taking Starflight's talon, and giving his cane to him.

"So, what should I do?" Gila asked.

"Well, you try to be covert too, but take out any guards that you can," Sunny instructed.

"Okay," Gila said, lifting off and landing on a high ledge.

"Let's go, Sunny," Starflight said, smiling widely. He was probably happy to be back with her.

Sunny gripped his talon firmly and led him to a door on the second level, where Starflight said they could listen in on the conversation in the room below.

Sunny knew Starflight's hearing probably surpassed hers, as he had been bind for a whole year, so she let him listen in.

"They're talking about Sol," he said. "I can hear, no that can't be, I must be hearing things."

"What?" Sunny asked.

"I hear my father's voice, but that's impossible!" Starflight said. "He's been in prison, and won't be released for another 4 months!"

"He must have escaped," Sunny said.

"It sounds like they're doing experiments on him, like they did to those poor RainWings," Starflight said. "That's terrible!"

"Why would they want to capture a LightWing?" Sunny said. "Do they think they'll harness his powers, or something?" She laughed, it wasn't possible to harness a dragon's powers. Well, she hoped you couldn't.

"That's what it sounds like they're planning," he said, with a touch of horror in his voice.

"It does," she acknowledged. She absentmindedly kicked a small stone, which contacted a spear made of shiny metal, producing a loud ring.

"Oh no!" she cried, quietly. Starflight looked worried.

"Let's go," he said. He started to fly off.

"Not without me, Starflight!" Sunny said, catching up. Then, she heard it.

"It's them!" Sunny heard a NightWing cry.

Sunny and Starflight didn't care about silence anymore, they were focused on escaping.

Sunny spotted Gila making her way out of the fortress, too, and they nodded in unison. They both understood they would get Luna and Stonemover, and leave.

The three dragons lighted down on a high rock, and Gila and Sunny tried to spot them and Starflight tried to smell or hear them.

Sunny tensed. Where are they? she thought. Did the NightWings find them? She wouldn't be able to bear it of they did.

She looked to her left and saw Starflight's face perk up under the bandages.

"There they are! Follow me!" the NightWing said. They followed his wobbly, clumsy, yet fast flying down to where the two were. She was surprised how honed the rest of Starflight's senses were now. She was also amazed how well Stonemover and Luna had hid themselves.

"There you are!" Gila exclaimed.

"Did you find Sol?" Luna said excitedly. Sunny's face fell. She had completely forgotten in the confusion of escaping the fortress.

"No, sorry, Luna, but we didn't," Starflight said ashamedly. "We do know he's alive, though. We overheard the NightWings talking about it."

"Great!" Luna said. "We still have a chance!"

"Well, we kind of need to escape," Sunny said. "The NightWings really know we're here. Last time, that was a fluke that they didn't."

"So, we leave?" Luna asked.

"Yes, right now," Sunny said. "Let's go."

Sunny looked behind them and saw a huge black dragon gaining quickly. She was thankful he or she wasn't a SkyWing, but it would be hard to transport Starflight. Another reason to leave quickly, Sunny thought.

The five dragons took to the sky, Luna guiding Starflight, and started for the tunnel. For a few moments, Sunny thought they'd make it unscathed. Then, the unexpected happened.

The huge NightWing, almost larger than Burn and Morrowseer had been, grabbed Luna's tail. Sunny saw Starflight detach from her and attempt to find Sunny.

She flew over to accompany him, and noticed Gila and Stonemover had not seen Luna get kidnapped.

She turned around with Starflight in tow, and shot towards Luna and her captors.

They caught up, for the NightWing was not a very good flier, and Sunny tugged on the large, black dragon's tail.

He turned around, with a mean look on his face, which wasn't much. Upon closer inspection, it was the dragon who had escaped Jade Mountain before, and Sunny was sure because of the familiar sagging, burnt, grotesque face.

"I will kill you," he growled. "Pesky SandWing. Unless, you follow me and do as I say." Sunny was certain he would kill her anyway, but she followed obediently with Starflight, who was summoned by the NightWing too.

She looked over at him, and he seemed deep in thought. I should probably think too, Sunny said. Although, that's Starflight's department, not mine.

She was interested when the NightWing led them into a beautiful cave with lava glowing brightly like Luna's scales. Ooooh, she thought. This is a beautiful place. Shame that it's a volcano.

The huge NightWing lighted down near a pit of lava, and dangled Luna over it.

"No!" Sunny screamed. She smacked the NightWing across the face with her tail, doing more damage then she had earlier on Jade Mountain.

"Oooooow!" he screamed.

Sunny quickly caught Luna as she plummeted down, and looked down at her.

"I'll help you up," she said to her. "Help me."

Sunny pulled up, and Luna was almost the whole way out. Then, Starflight yelled out.

"Guys, he's coming!" he yelled.

Sunny looked back abruptly, and saw the NightWing barreling toward them in rage.

"Aaaah!" Sunny said. She didn't let Luna go, and got her up. The NightWing smacked her, and Sunny fell. She flapped up, and kept a grip on Luna.

"Sunny," Luna said. "If I die... save my son. Please."

"Ok," Sunny agreed. "I'll make sure you don't."

The NightWing flew at her and Sunny knew he was targeting her talon she was gripping Luna with. She feigned a few blows, but one jarring hit to the talon let her go. Sunny yelled. "No!" she yelled.

She missed the grab, and watched hopelessly as the LightWing was buried in the glowing lava.

She started to cry and stared at the NightWing in fury. "I know you somewhere," she said. She wanted to figure out who this was.

"You don't know?" he drawled. "You seriously don't know?"

"No," she said.

"Ok, I'll tell you," he said, glaring malevolently with his evil yellow eyes.

"My name is Morrowseer, the dragon who made him blind and you thought was killed by the volcano," he said. "Isn't it obvious?"


	8. Hatching a Plan

Chapter 8

How could this be Morrowseer? Sunny thought. I'm perplexed.

After closer inspection, she could see the resemblance. This dragon had the same dull yellow eyes Morrowseer had, the same exact scale color, and the same size.

Although, this didn't match up.

Morrowseer is dead! Sunny thought. How could he have possibly survived?

"Morrowseer, how are you still alive?" Sunny heard Starflight ask the huge black dragon.

"Okay, I'll tell you," he said, in that annoying growling drawl. "When the volcano erupted and I fell off the ledge, I found a cavern, this one in fact, to hide in for a while. After the eruption subsided, I found my way back out into the continent and started living there until the old kingdom was cool enough to visit again."

"Clever," Sunny whispered to herself. No one else seemed to hear it.

"So, what are you going to do with us?" Starflight asked. He didn't seem worried or scared, just determined.

No offense, but that's odd for Starflight, Sunny contemplated.

"Well, I'm wondering whether I should kill you now, or you will be forced to tame that wretched scum that we captured," he jabbed a talon at the fortress, which led Sunny to believe he was referring to Sol.

"Well, I'm not so keen on dying," Starflight replied. Sunny was pretty sure she agreed, but she wasn't sure what would come out of Starflight's backtalk to Morrowseer, especially considering he was vengeful because, after all, he had almost died in an explosion.

"All right, I've decided," Morrowseer said. "You will work with that brat, come with me to round up your friends, and I will kill you all. This time, I won't fail. Follow me."

Sunny was holding back tears. She was horrified on what lay before them. Would they survive? Or would they die?

I guess there's only one way to find out, Sunny thought, gulping.

She took to the sky, helping Starflight.

Morrowseer led them through a side window, or at least that's what Sunny thought it used to be. Now it was a huge, gaping hole in the side of the fortress, big enough for two Morrowseers.

Sunny and Starflight were led in, and Morrowseer kicked a small dragon-shaped object cowering on the ground. This one was orange with yellow spots, and had the same serrated horns and whip-thin tail as Luna had.

Luna, Sunny thought. I barely knew her, yet her death is so sad! Sunny stifled her tears, and looked up at Morrowseer, who was glaring at them.

"This useless dragonet is Sol," Morrowseer explained. "He is one of those wretched LightWings too."

"Sol," Sunny heard Starflight whisper to her. "That's Luna's son!"

Sunny had forgotten, she was thankful Starflight had remembered for her.

"I will leave you with him," Morrowseer commanded. "There are guards at every exit, so escaping is impossible. Try to get him to behave." Sunny could tell he spat out the word behave, as if it were a rotten bird. The huge black dragon stomped out of the room.

As soon as the NightWing left, the small dragonet turned around. He looked no more than four, and he was scared to death, Sunny could tell.

"You-you won't hurt me, r-right?" Sol trembled, with his bright, eerie green eyes staring up.

"No, of course not!" Starflight consoled. Sunny watched humorously as Starflight felt around for Sol, and then hugged him.

"Don't worry, we'll help you escape," Sunny rubbed his head, and the small dragonet's face lit up.

"You will?" Sol asked gratefully. "No one's ever wanted to spring me, although I don't get too many visitors..."

"We know your mother," Sunny said. "Luna." Starflight gave her a disapproving look, and she knew exactly why.

"You do?" he said excitedly. "Is she coming to rescue me?"

Sunny and Starflight exchanged glances. I'll tell him, Sunny mouthed. He nodded.

"Well, Sol," Sunny faltered. She really didn't want to tell him this. "She's dead."

"WHAT?" he cried, burying his face in his talons. He started to weep uncontrollably.

"Sol, we need to explain something," Starflight said to the crying dragonet. He looked up, with blotches near his eyes and a sad expression. "Your mother died on her way here. She was with us, and that wretched scum, Morrowseer, threw her in. She cared, don't worry."

Sol looked up, an expression of hope on his face. He was smiling.

"I thought she didn't care after she left," he said. "But she did."

"Yep," Sunny confirmed.

"So, Sol, what's the deal here?" Starflight asked. "To break you out, we need to know what regimen they're putting you on."

Sunny wasn't too amazed, Starflight thought up brilliant plans like this all the time. She agreed this was a good idea.

"Well, first they wake me up and make me do chores," Sol explained. "Polishing the floor, hunting, whatever those lazy dragons don't want to do themselves." He rolled his eyes and looked off into space. Sunny guessed he was glaring at the NightWings where they couldn't spot him.

"Next, they do experiments, with their ringleader doing the experiments," Sol said.

"Wait," Starflight interrupted. "Who's doing these experiments?"

"Oh, some NightWing named Mastermind," Sol answered, waving a talon. "Always rambling on about some Starflight. Wonder who that is."

"Actually, I'm Starflight," Starflight said. A shock of realization spread over Sol's face, like so much was revealed by that sentence.

"In that case, we need to escape," Sol said in horror.

"Well, yes, we should abscond, but in what case?" Starflight asked. Sunny knew what abscond meant, but Sol clearly didn't.

"Escape," she whispered in Sol's ear, and he nodded.

"Well," Sol said, twiddling his talons nervously, staring up at Starflight. "He wants to jail you, in retaliation."

Sunny knew what he meant. Mastermind, Starflight's father, had been captured by the RainWings and Glory because of his experimentation on their tribe. She hoped she could avoid her friend being held captive by these NightWings.

Those jerks! Sunny thought, a look of maddening fury sweeping over her face.

"But, that isn't like him," Starflight faltered. "He usually isn't vengeful."

"Really?" Sol asked. Apparently, Mastermind's attitude changed immensely since he had been held captive. Sunny didn't know, she wasn't very familiar with her friend's father.

"He's always cruel to me," Sol pouted. "He makes me do things I'd rather not, and all the while, he explains it's for science."

"I think we should try to gather some information, guys," Starflight suggested.

On what? Sunny thought.

"Can I do it?" Sol inquired eagerly.

"Well, you kind of have to," Starflight trailed off. "We should find a secluded place, and I'll explain there."

With that, the three dragons silently crept out of the room in search of a room to hide in.


	9. The Rainforest

Chapter 9

Gila couldn't breathe. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't mitigate these tears any longer. She was practically choking on grief, and it was not a comfortable feeling at all.

Sunny was dead, she knew it. There was no possible way her and that blind NightWing- she couldn't remember his name- could have survived.

Gila just could not grasp how scary that NightWing that had grabbed them had been. He had been so big, he had that melting scar on his face, and he was so menacing.

She was lost. She didn't know where to go. She-

Stonemover, who was perched to her left, started to speak. "Gila, I have an idea and a theory."

"Wha-?" Gila replied, looking up.

"I don't think Sunny and Starflight are dead," Stonemover said, looking ahead.

"How is that?" Gila asked skeptically. How could Sunny possibly have survived? So that's the NightWing's name. "How about Luna?" Gila continued.

"Her?" Stonemover replied. "I'm not so sure. That large NightWing seemed pretty furious at her."

"Ah," Gila acknowledged. "So, what do we do? Storm the fortress?"

The two were still on the outer edges of the volcano, and Gila knew arriving at the fortress was most likely the dumbest idea of the century.

"Don't be ridiculous, Gila," was Stonemover's answer. His look seemed to silently scold Gila, and she started to think again.

"What should we do, let them die?" she snapped, trying to avert the grisly images that were popping in her mind out.

"No," Stonemover said, not changing the fixed direction of his wistful gaze. Gila thought that was very odd when he did that.

"So, Dad," Gila trailed off, wanting to change the subject. "What shall we do?"

"Finally," Gila heard her father whisper. The SandWing scowled. "Go to the rain forest."

"That's your idea?" Gila marveled sarcastically. How is this possibly a good idea? Gila wondered.

"Yes, it is," Stonemover replied hardly. "Do you have a problem?" His voice made it clear he hoped there wasn't.

"Yes, actually," she said. "Explain more. 'Go to the rain forest' doesn't explain too much on what we're doing."

"That you'll have to find out on your own," he said, almost as if this was a game, and two dragons' lives were not on the line.

He nudged her and started to fly out into the tunnel to the rain forest. She followed, wondering all the while.

What could be so secretive about the rain forest that he doesn't want to tell me? Gila wondered. I should just take it on the chin and see what happens. Can't be that bad, right?

* * *

Gila still couldn't believe how beautiful this place was, no matter how many times she saw it.

The sun was setting, and it was almost dark.

She took it all in and noted how exotic it was to the dank desert where she grew up. Bleaugh, she thought, imagining that harsh, dry landscape. This, this was paradise.

They had just crawled out of the tree that led to the NightWing Kingdom, and Gila much preferred the soft, cool grass of the rain forest over sand or hot, coarse rock.

She saw a gibbon swing on a branch, a fruit she couldn't identify fall from a tree, and some birds chatting loudly in the trees. She also spotted a few RainWings here or there gathering fruit peacefully before darkness set.

Gila decided to walk as opposed to fly, to take in the scenery. Stonemover flew up in the air to Gila's right, hastily flapping his wings. She bet he was taking in his surroundings too.

After a half hour or so of walking, a beautiful sight filled Gila's view. Even though she had already seen this, she couldn't get enough. The rain forest, she thought. I love it. I wish I could live here.

The sun had completely set now, and Gila figured all the RainWings were asleep. She flapped over to a large, luxurious looking leafy hut. There was an inscription on the door. Gila had been taught to read, so she didn't have trouble making out the writing that said, 'Starflight and Fatespeaker'.

Gila looked around, and she noted this hut appeared to be larger than almost every hut besides the queen's home.

Stonemover was in a tree not too close by, surveying a bug crawling on a leaf that was black and wilted from RainWing venom. Then, the SandWing had a plan. She would ask Fatespeaker a question that could be helpful.

There was one window on the hut, and on inspection of what lay behind it, Gila noticed a small, quaint kitchen complete with a table, a small pool of water for a sink, a bucket to the right of the sink, which Gila presumed the two NightWings who lived here filled with water to replace the contents of the sink when it got too dirty, leaves that resembled plates with scraps of food still left, a wooden can for disposal of rubbish, parchment with recipes on them, cabinets that seemed to contain fruit and meat, and a small place Gila could tell had held a fire for cooking. She could see an opening she presumed led to another room. There was a faint light protruding from it. There were also jewels adorning the whole room.

She double-checked Stonemover's attentiveness on her, then pushed open the wooden door silently.

There was the kitchen, the opening she saw before, and another door she previously missed. She decided to go though the new door.

She worriedly pushed it open, hoping there wasn't anyone on the other side.

To her relief, she was alone in the room. The first thing she noticed were the hundreds of scrolls filling the shelves along the walls. This must be a library.

On two walls, there were odd scrolls that were not legible to her, with weird dots protruding from them. There were no pictures on the parchment of any of the puzzling scrolls.

The other one held regular ones, and Gila picked one up at random. It was more worn then the others. 'Tales of the NightWings' was the inscription. It looked quite intriguing, but she had no time to lose. Her father might notice her absence any moment now.

She exited the library and prepared to go in the other room. She trotted towards it as silently as she could and peeked her head inside.

Perfect, she thought, grinning widely. She had been hoping for this.

She had heard a lot about this dragon from Sunny when they had taken shelter in their father's cave on Jade Mountain. She was Starflight's love interest, if she remembered correctly.

Gila saw Fatespeaker was sleeping soundly. The room was opulently adorned with more jewels, with some emeralds but mostly amethyst. There was a large, leafy bed large enough for three dragons, with a painting with a loopy signature above the bed. It displayed five dragons, one of them being Sunny.

There was a large, muscular, smiling MudWing. He was holding a mango in one talon and looked very friendly. Next to him, there was a blue, tough-looking SeaWing. She had piercing green eyes, a smirk, and two strands of pearls on her neck. On a platform in the middle was a very regal-looking RainWing. She was different colors, but was mostly indigo and gold, which Gila believed meant pride and amusement. She was wearing a crown of flowers, and had an adorable furry creature with her arms around her neck. To the RainWing's right was a NightWing she recognized as Starflight. He had a scroll with those odd dots in his left front talon and a cane in his right. He was smiling, and had warm orange eyes that were glassy and weren't focused on any particular thing. He had long burns running down his body. On top of Starflight was Sunny. She was grinning ear-to-ear, was staring ahead with her gleaming grey-green eyes, had her tail draped across Starflight's snout, and was hugging the NightWing adorably. She was certain these were the dragonets from the prophecy, as she knew Sunny and Starflight were in it. It was very well painted, but the way the picture was painted seemed to show the painter had looked up to see the dragons. The painting's background was a palace.

Gila surveyed the room and noticed two bedside tables. One had a lengthy-looking scroll with those odd dots, bandages, and a small apple. The other contained a salve.

The room had a flickering candle as its only light source. The room wasn't much, but it was nice. Gila turned to leave, figuring her questions for the NightWing could wait a day. Much to her chagrin, however, her talon accidentally bumped the wall painfully.

"Ow," she said, hastily putting a talon over her mouth. She hoped Fatespeaker hadn't heard that. As soon as the coast seemed clear, Gila started out.

She heard a scared voice behind her.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"


	10. Starflight's Idea

Chapter 10

Sunny was worried as she flew. She, Starflight, and Sol were having trouble finding that ledge they had been discussing.

Sunny was being shielded by Starflight, and Sol was riding on top of her. Sunny had suggested this, and both the NightWing and the LightWing had agreed. They melted in perfectly with the black ceiling.

Sunny kept looking down as they made their way across the fortress. There was one time where Sol nearly fell right on a NightWing's head, although Starflight had caught him just in time.

"Phew," Starflight had whispered, placing the small dragonet back on Sunny's back.

"Can you turn your scales off?" Sunny asked Sol in a quiet whisper. She wanted to make sure they weren't caught, and light-up scales would surely give them away.

"No," Sol replied quietly. "I can make them darker, though."

She couldn't see it, but she could feel a slight rattle on her back as Sol turned his scales very dim. She couldn't even see the shadow that had been there before.

She gritted her teeth and resumed flying. There were no obstructions up on the ceiling, so it was straight flying the whole way after that. A couple minutes later, the three dragons landed on a rock ledge. Starflight had promised they would be okay, but Sunny wasn't sure of that. He said there were no NightWings near them, and Sunny and Sol really hadn't had an opportunity to debunk that. After all, they had been riding virtually on his back for the whole flight.

_Also, isn't Starflight blind? _Sunny thought_. How could he possibly have detected them? Echolocation, perhaps_? She frowned. _No, don't be silly, we're dragons, not bats_, she silently scolded herself.

She knew better than to not trust the NightWing, however. Sometimes she thought her friends and a select other few, like Gila or her mother, were the only trustworthy dragons in Pyrrhia.

Sol, who still was dimming his scales, broke the silence. "Aren't we supposed to think up a plan on how to break out?" the small LightWing asked Starflight.

"Yeah, I'm getting to that," Starflight answered. She looked at his eyes. They didn't seem so glazed anymore, and they seemed more focused. He even noticed her glancing.

"Sunny, why are you looking at me like that?" he asked with a comically confused look covering his black face.

"Why are you able to look at me?" Sunny retorted. "I thought you were blind."

"Oh, I am," he said. "It's just a special kind."

"I wasn't aware there were different types of blindness," Sunny replied.

"No scientists know what to call it," he said in his top-of-the-class voice. Sunny sighed. "What happened is this: when Morrowseer's fireball hit my eyes, it sort of triggered a malfunction of some kind in my eyes. For a random hour or two every day, my eyes just stop working. They go back to normal after a while, but it's still a nuisance."

Sunny thought about this. _But, how? _Sunny thought._ That sounds awfully odd._

"But our hatching day party at the palace..." Sunny trailed off.

"Yeah, that was real blindness. That took a while to go away."

"Oh."

"So, guys, are we gonna figure out a plan or not?" Sol said frustratedly.

"What's the plan, Starflight?"

"Well," he began. "One second. We need more information if we're going to make an analysis on what the appropriate action is and-"

"Enough gabbing, what's the plan?" Sol irately tsked.

"Sol, that was rude!" Sunny huffed. She had never spoken like that to an older dragon before! "Apologize!"

"It's all right Sunny, I-" Starflight started.

"Sorry..." Sol said before he could finish.

"Alright, I'll continue then." Starflight looked at Sunny when Sol wasn't looking and made a motion that Sunny interpreted as _don't let him interrupt again._ Sunny nodded.

"Sol," Starflight said, beckoning the dragonet to come back. "What does my father test you on?"

"My powers," Sol answered. "First, he lights a torch and makes me target a light beam at a sliver of wood, because apparently that can't be affected by it."

"Yes, yes, what else?"

"Well, then he makes me guess what he's thinking. It's a cakewalk, but I always answer wrong to get on his nerves.

"Finally, he sets up a dark hallway, and makes me find my way through it with my light."

"Okay, let me think." Starflight said, putting his claws to his forehead as he often did when he was deep in thought.

I wonder what his plan will be, Sunny asked herself. I wish I could think like he does sometimes, I'm really jealous.

She waited a minute or two, then Starflight removed his claws from his head. "I have an idea."

"What is it?" Sol inquired.

"Tomorrow, when Mastermind makes you concentrate your light beam, say the target is wobbly. When he goes over to adjust it, strike him instead of the wood. Then, escape back to us. We'll be on this ledge."

"Lemme get this straight. You want me to put your dad's life in _jeopardy?"_

Starflight looked at Sol like he couldn't possibly be serious. "You care for the life of the dragon that's been practically torturing you?"

"No, but I thought you would," Sol explained. "He's your dad. If he dies, that makes you an orphan, and that would be_ awful._ "

"Not to me. I _hate_ him."

"Starflight, that's not nice. Don't you have the slightest care for him?" Sunny asked. She didn't believe he was a bad dragon just misled. The only true bad dragon to her in Pyrrhia was Morrowseer.

Starflight firmly stomped his foot. "No, I don't care what happens to him. _Never!_" The quiet yell echoed sickly off the walls and the stomp sent some loose rocks tumbling to the floor.

Starflight, realizing what he'd done, cursed under his breath, and Sunny plugged Sol's ears so he wouldn't hear the swear.

"Starflight, he's a young dragonet! Don't curse around him!"

"Sorry, but I think our best bet would be to fly. Now." Starflight looked hastily to the side.

Sunny removed her claws from Sol's ears. "Hey, buddy. We have to go," she told him.

"Okay, same stuff we did to get here? Starflight on the bottom, you on top of him, and me on you?"

"I think."

She looked over at Starflight and asked him if they would fly the same way, like Sol had suggested. He nodded.

"Get on my back, Sunny," Starflight said. His voice was firm, and he beckoned over Sol to get on his back.

When the three dragons were all situated, they began the way they had came, slow, careful, and observant of their surroundings. One mistake could possibly mean death- if the guards found any of them wandering around, they'd surely be in deep trouble, more than they already were. If Morrowseer or Mastermind found any of them, there would be no questions- they would be killed on the spot.

Now that Sunny thought about it, Sol probably wouldn't be killed- especially if Mastermind got to him first.

"For science!" he'd say, and whisk him away to the lab. Either way, they would all get caught if but one of them were seen. The guards would probably be notified of their party was strutting about the fortress, and would probably check the cell to see where the others were.

Everyone was doing a stellar job of keeping hidden. Starflight covered them well, and Sol stayed firmly on her back. They passed a whole battalion of NightWings, it seemed, yet they didn't make so much as a peep. You could hear a pin drop up there.

To be fair, there was much conversation going on below, drunken guards wobbling around and crashing into things, and the clinking sound of glass to glass as more NightWings drank themselves silly.

Being quiet was really starting to get Sunny's goat. She wanted to talk so much right now- it seemed like she had done nothing since she entered the old NightWing kingdom.

When Sunny felt like she was going to burst, the three dragonets landed where they had been, in their now seemingly cozy cell.

"We made it back unscathed," Starflight said. "Good job, everyone."

"Thanks," Sunny and Sol replied politely.

There was a small bout of silence.

"I'm bored," Sunny said impatiently. "Sol, what do you usually do to pass the time in your cell?"

"Throw rocks out the hole in the wall. Haven't you seen me do it?"

Now that she looked, she did notice a small pile of rocks on the bench in the cell, and Sol sometimes picking one up to throw outside out of the hole. Instincts she had adopted from being under the mountain and wondering about the hole in the study cave, she studied to see if a dragon could fit through it.

"Sorry, Sunny, I tried yesterday," Sol said apologetically.

"Oh."

Sunny started to watch Sol throw rocks and Starflight picking something on his claw, when there was a whisper through the hole and a shocked scream from Sol.

"Hey, little bro. What's up?"


	11. Joint Operation

Chapter 11

Gila frantically searched the room for a hiding place.

_I really don't care about chatting, actually. Doesn't seem like a good time._

Gila quickly found a cabinet and crawled herself in to the tight space in between the cabinet and the wall near it, snaking her tail in her hiding place just as she heard the sound of talons clinking on the ground.

"Hello, who's there? Come out!" Gila heard the NightWing's scared voice.

_I wish I could reveal myself, I really do,_ Gila thought_. But it wouldn't be safe. She'd probably attack me. Darn, why didn't I think this through before I came in?_

Gila continued waiting stock-still in her nook she was hiding in, still having auditory evidence that Fatespeaker hadn't returned to bed.

She noticed a ball of lint on the cabinet, and she knocked it down to bat around._ Nothing else to do, really, _Gila thought.

She pretended one part of the cabinet was a goal and she attempted to whack the ball into that area. It was a fun time waster for a couple of minutes, after all, she was trespassing into someone else's house and hiding behind a cabinet, what was the alternative for there to do?

After a while of hitting the lint ball, it strayed to the side, where she couldn't reach it without sticking her claw out of her confinement.

_I'll wait until the coast is clear, then I can grab it, _shethought.

She absentmindedly silently smacked her tail on the ground in quick, deft motions, just something to do until the coast was clear.

About a minute or two later, Gila decided it was safe to snake her talon out from her safe haven to grab the lint. She made a quick glance to her left and right and reached for the ball.

_Almost there,_ she thought. _A little more, then I'll have it._

Gila stretched as far as she could and barely got a hold of her makeshift toy. As she started to pull it towards her, she bumped the talon that reached for it on the cabinet's exterior.

Fortunately, Gila managed to not make a noise as she clutched her hurt talon in pain. The dead giveaway to her location was the telltale bump that resonated into the walls of the hut as her talon made contact. Seconds later, she was staring at the eyes of Fatespeaker herself.

"First thing," the agitated dragon snarled. "Why in the heck are you in my house in the first place? Second, why are you hiding behind my cabinet?"

"I can explain," Gila begun. She really wasn't sure if she could explain, really- she was too terrified. She would have to try though. Gulping, she continued to speak.

"I needed to ask you a question." She cleared her throat, and Fatespeaker made a motion with her talon that seemed to mean, _Continue, continue, I haven't got all day._

"I need your help with something. Something really important, specifically."

"What would that be?" Fatespeaker asked, keeping a cool composure.

She explained everything. She started at her meeting of Sunny- Gila believed telling the whole story would be more beneficial. When she finished telling her about Starflight and Sunny's kidnapping, she stopped, breathed in deeply, and exhaled. She looked up at the fazed NightWing.

"Okay, you were right when you said important," she said. "Just one thing- why did you tell me? Why not the queen? Glory's the one you'll want to notify, really."

"D'oh!" Gila said, smacking her forehead uncharacteristically. "I really never thought of that. I wanted to talk to you because I thought you loved Starflight and Sunny was your best friend, and you'd care about them the most. Or maybe Sunny was wrong when she told me about you."

"Well, I do love them- Starflight romantically and Sunny as a friend," Fatespeaker said. "I can still help you, though. Here's the key card for the queen's hut," she said, handing her a blue plastic object. "Try to get her later in the morning, she's pretty cranky at this ungodly hour."

"Thanks!" Gila responded. "And thanks for the advice. Sorry for waking you. Hope you can fall asleep again."

"Don't worry about it. I can figure it out."

As Gila walked towards the entrance of the hut, Fatespeaked waved goodbye to her, and Gila waved back. As she creaked open the door of the hut to the outside world, she was met by an angry dragon.

A dragon with stone-hard obsidian-colored scales, that happened to be a NightWing, that is.

"Gila, I looked all over for you! I was worried out of my _mind_!" Stonemover yelled at top volume at the cowering SandWing.

"Keep the racket to a low roar, bub!" said a orange and red RainWing, who had popped his head out of his window, woken up by the yell.

"Sorry," Stonemover replied sheepishly, waving in an embarrassed fashion. The RainWing scowled and drew his head back into his hut.

Stonemover, making sure he was gone, starting to scream at Gila once more, at a lower volume.

"How could you? Why on Pyrrhia would you possibly have a reason to tresspass into this hut? Are you out of your mind?"

Gila gulped. Should I even answer? Yes, I should, I'd get slugged if I did.

"Well," she said. "This is just a horrible misunderstanding. All that happened was-"

"Enough! I want a straight answer right now!"

_This is it. Goodbye world, I had a lackluster time on you_, Gila thought with a scoff.

Since Gila was backed up against a wall, she was knocked flat on her face when the door behind her was swung ajar.

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Fatespeaker exclaimed, pulling Gila away. "What are you doing, NightWing? You are supposed to be in your own village! Queen Glory said nothing yet about you being allowed here!"

"Wait!" Stonemover yelled. "It's me, Stonemover! Remember?"

"Believe him," Gila whispered to Fatespeaker. "Trust me, that's him."

"It is?" Fatespeaker said, shocked. "Sorry, Stonemover. Didn't recognize you- morning and all."

"Actually, no," Stonemover said, looking up at the moon's position. "It actually looks around 11:30."

"Well, _whatever_!" Fatespeaker said frustratedly. "Who cares?"

"Sorry," Stonemover said reproachfully. "We'll be going now." He scowled down at Gila.

He started to fly off, and Gila shrugged and started to follow suit.

"Wait! Come back!"

Gila lighted down and looked urgently in her father's direction, then turned back to the NightWing.

"Can I come with you? I think it's best I do."

Gila nodded in consent. "Why is it best, I may ask?"

"You won't know where the queen resides. It's pretty well hidden, if I do say so myself." Fatespeaker puffed her chest out proudly.

"All right, let's go, chauffer." Gila giggled.

"Okay, this valet operation is a-go." The two dragonets laughed into the night.

They didn't have to fly too fast to catch up to Stonemover, and when they did, Fatespeaker promptly took the lead.

"Just follow me."

"Slow down up there," Gila called to Fatespeaker, who had sped aways ahead. "My father can't fly that fast."

"M-hm," Fatespeaker said, joining her side. "Just a longshot forwards, then the hut's concealed in the overgrown undergrowth up ahead."

Luckily for Stonemover, flying wasn't a challenge, considering they were in a large clearing, unlike much of the rainforest.

"We're here!" Fatespeaker announced. She started to claw out a path through the dense undergrowth, Gila and Stonemover close behind.

After about half a minute of foraging a way forward, a gleaming jewel-adorned gold-plated door stood in the dragons' way, with a slit for the key card carved in.

"You do the honors," Fatsepeaker said, nudging Gila with her shoulder gently.

"If you insist." Gila stuck the key card into the hole, slipped it out, and watched as the door opened automatically.

The security alarm went off.


	12. Dusty's Return

Chapter 12

Poor Sol was so alarmed by the voice behind him that he fell flat on his face on the hard, rocky ground.

"How on Pyrrhia did you get here, dude?" Sol asked the dragon who had scared him with a snarl.

"Help me squeeze through," the dragon said. Sunny saw Sol cross his arms indignantly.

"Why would I help you, jerkus?"

"Don't worry, I'll help you through," Sunny told the dragon. She grabbed their outstreched claws in hers and pulled hard.

"Ooommphh," the dragon Sunny identified as a SandWing groaned. "Thanks."

_Wait a second, _Sunny thought._ Didn't this dragon tell Sol he was his brother? He's a SandWing, not a LightWing!_

Sunny looked a little closer at the dragon and had a startling revelation.

This dragon looks awfully familiar. She looked again at his face. No, it couldn't be...

"Dusty?" Sunny realized. "Is that you?"

"Sunny! I thought you had died on that brawl on Jade Mountain!"

"You knew about that?"

"I flew around there later in the day. I remember seeing you and Gila and one of you getting hit by a huge black dragon. Is she okay?" Dusty asked nervously.

"Who, Gila?" Dusty nodded yes. "I'm not sure. She was with me when the NightWings captured me. I'm not sure where her and Dad went..." She trailed off. "How'd they find you?"

"They didn't, actually," he replied, flexing his claws. "I snuck in. Myself."

"Like that's a big deal," Sunny joked.

"Whatever," Dusty said.

Starflight looked up from the thinking he had been conducting, or at least that's what Sunny believed he was doing. He spoke up. "Hey, enough chit-chat, kiddos. We need to commence my plan. Like, soon." He noticed Dusty. "Hey, wh-who's this?"

"This is Dusty, my friend. We met in the desert. It's a long story," Sunny explained.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you two seem to- ahem- have a thing for one another."

The two SandWings looked appalled.

"No, it's not like that, Starflight!" Sunny yelled. "Not at all! We're just- you know, friends..."

Starflight looked defensive. "Well, sorry! I was just saying. It sure seemed like it."

"Well, he's got a point, Sunny," Dusty said.

Sunny thought about this for a moment. "I see where you're coming from..."

"All right, can we please get on with my plan?" Starflight suggested, although a bit irritatedly.

"Sorry, we'll have to wait," Sol explained, glancing quickly at the wall clock. "Tomorrow, actually. All of their experiments are conducted in the morning."

Sunny could hear Starflight muttering something vulgar under his breath. "All right, then..."

"Anyway, I'm beat. We should probably go to sleep," Sol yawned.

Sunny looked around at the less-than-ample space provided in the room. "Yeah, but where? We can all barely fit in here all sitting down, how would we possibly all three lay down? And where would Dusty sleep?"

"Hey, I am not sleeping in here. I'm going to just go out the hole, hide myself, and sleep there," Dusty established.

"How are the rest of us going to fit in here then?" Sol challenged.

"You can always sleep with me outside the hole."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you _insane_?" Starflight reeled back. "When we're woken up in the morning," Sol nodded, silently saying they would get woken up. "that dragon will get suspicious that three dragons aren't in this cell."

"What's your solution to that problem then, braniac?" Dusty seethed, clearly offened by the _insane_ remark, stomping a foot down.

"You expect me to have an answer that quickly? You really are stupid. Sand to the brain?" Starflight remarked with a sarcastic smirk.

"You're about to have no brain, smartmouth." Dusty leaped onto Starflight menacingly, just pinning him down, making that fire-is-coming hiss that had been cemented in her mind from the numerous times Kestrel had produced it.

"Get off him this instant!" Sunny growled, balling her talons into a kind of fist and punched Dusty hard across the snout, knocking him out swiftly. There was a large thump as Dusty's limp body hit the ground.

"What did you do?" Sol cried, unaware she had knocked him out, not killed Dusty. "You murderer!"

He proceeded to feebly punch Sunny in the side. She easily flicked him off- she was much larger.

Then, Sol started to do something horrible- he started to levitate in the air, and began to spin, lighting up his scales blindingly bright. If disco balls existed in Pyrrhia, Sunny probably would have mistaken Sol's luminescent body for one right now. He let out a roar, and shot a beam of light right at Sunny.

She feigned to the left, barely dodging the killing laser. She ducked under another, dodged to the left again, then slid across the ground, the fourth beam in a row nearly singing her scales.

Starflight, however, was attempting to sneak behind Sol to knock him out to stop his rampage. He socked Sol in the back of the head, straying the fifth beam off target, making contact with a wall, breaking a brick into smithereens.

Sol, now clairvoyant that Starflight was behind him, turned around and punched him in the forehead, leaving him unconscious.

The LightWing didn't turn back to Sunny. He kept his eyes on Starflight angrily, malevolently. He started to produce the hiss of fire that would kill Starflight, the one that would doom their plan.

"No, Sol. Don't!" She leaped for Starflight to protect him. She grabbed him, rolling them away from Sol's personal flamethrower.

"Sol, stop!" Sunny yelled desperately.

"No, you killed Dusty. I'll kill you." He sounded god-like, much different from his usual whiny drawl.

The light beam shot from his forehead, almost in seemingly slow motion. Sunny, though, was so scared she couldn't move. The beam hit her square in the chest.

_Ow, that really hurt, _Sunny thought wearily._ Really, really hurt._

_It won't soon_, she consoled herself.

She closed her eyes, allowing the almost inevitable darkness to envelop her.


	13. Mission Implausible

Chapter 13

"Oh, crap, what do we do what do we do what do we do?" Fatespeaker said, freaking out. "Glory never taught me how to disarm the security system! We'll be put in jail, then we won't be able to rescue Sunny and Starflight, and-"

"Fatespeaker, calm down!" Gila said, always providing the voice of reason. "This is what we'll do- sneak in, covertly, that is- Dad, please hide yourself out here," she pointed at Stonemover, who smiled in a way that suggested he didn't want to go anyway. "And Fatespeaker, come with me so you can lead the way. Also, the queen will listen to you. She doesn't even know me."

"Sounds like a plan," Fatespeaker said excitedly. "First, let's break that security alarm."

Gila nodded at Stonemover, who concealed himself in a large dark plant nearby.

"Bye, Gila. Don't die."

She went over and hugged him warmly. "I won't, Dad. I won't."

Gila and Fatespeaker went over to the double doors, now ajar, and started to walk down the hall.

At first glance Gila noticed something about this place. It was a maze, an utter labyrinth.

There were about 8 swerving halls and 3 doors that Gila could see, and surely many more.

She turned to Fatespeaker. Certainly she would know this place better- this queen was her good friend.

"Hey." Gila waved a talon in front of the weary-looking NightWing's face.

"Huh?" she replied.

"You know this place well, right?" Gila asked, recalling what Fatespeaker had told her before.

"Yeah," Fatespeaker started, rubbing her talons nervously. Gila could tell something was wrong. "Well, when I have my map. And I forgot it."

_We're doomed, _Gila thought_. We are completely and utterly doomed._

"Hey, why the long face?" Fatespeaker inquired. "It's not the end of the world, not at all."

"Oh really?" Gila snapped, talons on her hips indignantly. "How are we gonna escape if we don't know how to traverse in here?"

"Don't be silly. We aren't simply absconding and letting it go. We need to find Queen Glory no matter what it takes."

"Well, how?"

"I have a plan," Fatespeaker said. "One day I was talking to Glory- casually, you know. She was telling me about a break-in the previous night. They were two adolescent NightWings looking for treasure, and Glory said they had been sneaking around stealthily, like we are, and used the maps that line the hallway to arrive at the vault."

"If they failed, how do you expect us to succeed? They weren't dragonets, and we are. They probably had this easier." Gila said.

"Not quite," Fatespeaker replied confidently. "It'll be easier for us to sneak around! We are smaller, after all! Plus, dragonets have better vision then fully-grown dragons, so we can spot the maps from farther away!"

"True," Gila said, studying the maze laid before them. "Let's do this."

Gila and Fatespeaker crouched to the ground low, behind a few boxes astrewn in the hall. Luckily, however, a couple moments later about five RainWing guards appeared from the third hallway on the left side of the hall, indicating if they were to get to the queen, this would be the first step.

In a tiny voice, Gila whispered, "What should we do?"

"Wait till they pass us. Then, since the walls are black, I can sneak by! Then, you get on the other side of the boxes, wait for them to leave, and join up with me!" Fatespeaker decided.

Gila nodded and watched as Fatespeaker virtually disappeared into the wall. She had seen something like this before at the NightWing kingdom, but never by a dragon this small.

By the time she had lost track of Fatespeaker, she noticed the RainWings had nearly passed her side of the boxes. She crossed over, and sighed quietly in relief.

Gila thought to herself, _Why should I wait here till they leave? That's very dangerous._

She started to formulate a seemingly more safe plan in her mind, and when she had decided, it had come out looking something like this.

There was a door a few steps to her right side, one that led to a room. She would hide in this room immediately so the RainWings would not see her.

_All right. Let's do this._

Stepping quietly, she got into the room, the walls also a dark shade of black. There was a workstation set up here, one that looked used, with papers strewn about and quills and ink littering the desk.

_I'll just hide under this table_, she thought, crawling under said table. From what Gila could gather from seeing the table, it was probably used for refreshments, with various kinds of fruit Gila couldn't name lined up perfectly.

She counted off two minutes in her head, the amount of time she suspected would be ample time for the guards to leave.

Taking precaution, she looked back where they had been and saw no one. Forwards there was no one. However, when she turned to the right, there was a RainWing guard stationed there.

She stomped up to Gila, drew in a breath, and said, "Hello, Sunny! I see you've gotten a bit lost. Would you like me to escort you to the queen's chambers?"

At first, Gila was confused. Then, remembering she and her twin looked stunningly alike, she said in a more high-pitched voice then her own, one she hoped would match Sunny's tone of voice, "Yes, please!"

As the RainWing gestured down the third hallway on the right side, (Fatespeaker's estimations had been correct on which hall was the right one.) Gila searched frantically for Fatespeaker, in desperate hopes she could be found and the RainWings could escort her, too, but to no avail.

Gila did consider just saying, "Hey, I came here with a friend, can you help me find her?" but she realized that the guard would think she was crazy, as she couldn't find Fatespeaker, and might generate 'friend' as 'accomplice'. After all, the alarm system had gone off, and from Sunny's general description of RainWings it was normal they'd forget key things such as this. However, from her sister's description of the queen, she was not the same way and would surely question Gila about that.

After about fifteen minutes of walking and constant consolation from the RainWing they were nearly there, they arrived at a blank wall at the end of a hallway. There was no latch, no handle, no valve. There wasn't a keyhole, either. How were they supposed to get in?

She turned to the RainWing guard, who did a complicated knock on the door. After the guard finished, she stepped away from the wall to where Gila was and waited.

A few seconds later, a dragon on the other side of the wall performed the same exact knocking sequence the guard on this side had. Then, after the knock was over, the wall, previously just a wall, swung open from the other side by a teal-colored RainWing guard.

The room on the other side was a mystical-looking throne room, so clouded in mist that you couldn't see the other side of the room from the threshold. It was far more beautiful than any throne room Gila had ever seen, especially the rubbish the Outclaws had given her, and Gila had surprisingly seen a lot of throne rooms.

"This way," the RainWing urged Gila on. The mist, which was cool and refreshing to the touch, made the room smell tropical. The walls were emerald-studded, and there was a glass floor with many garnet stones below the transparent material.

She walked a couple more steps, and when she stopped, she saw the most beautiful dragon she had ever seen in her life. She was brilliant shades of red and orange. If Gila had known about RainWings changing colors like a mood ring, then she would have known to watch out.

"Noni, who is this dragon?" the RainWing asked her escort.

"This is Sunny, Your Highness," Noni replied. "Remember?"

The queen bent over and looked closer. "This isn't Sunny. Sunny isn't that tall at all. She's also a deeper shade of gold."

The queen looked up at Noni and Gila. "Noni, take her to the prison. This a fake trying to pose as Sunny."

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness," Noni replied. She held Gila's claws behind her back and started to escort her out.

When Noni and Gila reached the door, which had a handle on it, the same exact knock Noni and the teal guard had replicated before, but this time at a faster, more frantic pace.

Noni let go of Sunny for a moment as she performed the knock, then opened the door to reveal a NightWing on the other side.

Noni seemed to recognize the dragon immediately. "Good evening, Fatespeaker! The queen is right this way."

Noni pulled Gila's claws behind her back once more and headed for the door.

"Hey, what are you doing with that dragon?" Fatespeaker yelled at Noni. "That's my friend!"

"No, she isn't," Noni said. "This isn't Sunny. Now go talk to the queen, or whatever."

"I know she isn't Sunny," Fatespeaker replied. "I'd like to see Queen Glory about this."

The guard sighed. "Fine." She turned around with Gila and headed back to the queen's throne.

"Thank you," Gila whispered to Fatespeaker as they went.

"Any time. Now I'm bailing you out. You owe me one."

Once more Gila stood before Queen Glory. Her colors had swapped to gold and pink.

"Why hello, Fatespeaker," Glory said. "What do you want to tell me?"

"Well, two things, actually," Fatespeaker replied. "First, this dragon. This dragon is named Gila, and she's Sunny's twin sister."

"Explain," Glory turned to Gila. "Is this true, you being Sunny's sister?"

"Well, yes," Gila trembled. "It is true. Would you like me to tell you the story from the beginning?"

"I've got all the time in the world. So sure," the queen said.

Gila cleared her throat. This would be the second time today she'd have to recite this, after all. She began from the beginning, when she had been taken out of the egg, and ended today, setting off the alarm and unsuccessfully sneaking through the palace.

"Okay," Glory said. "A liar couldn't possibly tell that good of a story, and you didn't even stop once in your story, a common trait for a liar." Glory got off her throne. "Noni, you can go. We won't need to chain up this dragon."

"Okay, Your Highness." She walked to the door.

"Oh, and you too, Forest!" the teal guard followed Noni to the door. They both left.

"Honestly, just between us, I hate it when they call me 'Your Highness'. I won a _contest_ to become queen, for God's sake," Glory said a couple seconds after the guards left.

"So, Glory, about what Gila said with Sunny and Starflight..." Fatespeaker said. "What are we going to do about that?"

"We'll get on it at once! Only problem is, who'll run my kingdom when I'm gone?" Glory fretted. Just then, a small speaker near the throne lit up and an elderly-sounding voice crackled through.

"Good evening, Queen Glory. I just want to tell you about an alarm that went off earlier. I'm not sure if you heard it. Anyway, good-bye!"

Glory's face lit up. "That's _it_! I'll have Grandeur watch the kingdom!"

"Wait here," Glory told Gila and Fatespeaker. "I need to go talk to Grandeur. I'll be right back." The elegant queen of the RainWings left the room, leaving Gila and Fatespeaker the only two dragons inside.


	14. Sol's Despair

Chapter 14

"Huh?" Sol jolted awake. He really couldn't remember much. All he could recall was this- he had seen Dusty been knocked out by Sunny- or killed- then he started to punch Sunny. After that, he had lost conscienceness.

When he sat up, all he could see was limp bodies (which he hoped weren't corpses). Dusty was laying on the ground only a few feet away, and Sol crawled over to check his pulse. He put his paw to Dusty's chest and luckily, there was a slow but steady rhythm, the rhythm of life. Dusty's breath was also right in his face now.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Sol whispered softly into his brother's ear.

Northeast to Dusty's body were a SandWing and NightWing, Starflight and Sunny. He went to Starflight first, as he was laying closer to him.

There was a huge pool of sickening, red blood congealing around his head, some of it already coagulated. Starflight's chest was heaving and he had a thrumming heartbeat, one that signified he was definitely alive.

Next- and the dragon he was most worried about- was Sunny. This was due to what her body looked like. There was a hole in her chest, although it didn't stab right through her, like a spear. There was a mass of blood at least 3 times as large as Starflight's. Her chest wasn't heaving, either.

"Sunny?" Sol trembled uncontrollably. "Are you okay? What happened?"

_She can't hear me,_ Sol thought hopelessly._ She's probably dead. Look at that gash!_

He sat down and draped his wings over his head sadly. "This isn't good..." he muttered.

He started to weep quietly. It wasn't long into his crying when he was tapped on the shoulder.

"Sunny? Is that you?" Sol said enthusiastically.

"No, little guy, it's me, Dusty. What are you obsessing over Sunny for?"

"Well, look to the right," Sol answered.

Dusty gasped. "No, Sunny!" He started to cry and hug her. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

_I have no idea who did it,_ Sol thought._ Who could have?_

Then, Sol had an idea. He would investigate Sunny to look for evidence.

He walked over to her hopefully-not-corpse and started to look for clues.

First, and the thing that was the obvious thing that knocked her out was the gaping hole. It looked almost as if it had been burned in.

_What could have done that? _Sol thought._ What kind of creature can shoot something burning of that tiny of a circumference?_

He started to rack off possibilities in his head. After a while, he still had no answer, which was very frustrating.

"Darn, darn, _darn_!" Sol cursed, stomping around the cell. Inadvertently, he shot a luminous beam of his light at a rock, blowing it to smithereens.

_Oh no_, Sol thought, having a shocking revelation._ I did this... I'm a murderer..._

Sol fell over on to Starflight, jolting him awake.

"Sol, get off me!" he said crabbily.

"Geez, sorry," Sol said, getting off.

"Hey, what's this around my head?" Starflight asked. "Eww!" he yelled, seeing the blood.

"Whatwhatgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" Starflight yelled, rolling into Sunny.

"Wait until the other talon drops," Dusty whispered to Sol.

"WAUUGGHHHHHHH!" he screeched, noticing the gaping hole in her chest.

He got up. "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?" he screamed in terror.

"I have no idea," Dusty replied. "Sol, do you have a lead?"

_Should I answer honestly? _Sol fretted, hoping his face wasn't showing his fear. Deciding he would lie, he said "N-no, I don't..."

"All right, little guy. We'll figure this out." Dusty pat him on the head and walked over to the hole. "You stay right here. Starflight and I will figure this out." With that, he and Starflight crawled out the hole.

Seconds after the two older dragons left the room, Sol started to silently cry again, his tears pounding on to Sunny's face, which was frozen in time with a look of utter horror and despair, the most saddening facial expression Sol had ever seen. It almost made him throw up just looking at it.

And, throw up he did. He was so sickened with himself for possibly killing his friend that he blew his chunks out the hole. It was brownish and grey, the color of the carrion on the NightWing island that they were fed. The NightWings, however, ate only the savory fruit the rainforest yielded.

_What should I do? _Sol thought, utterly anguished_. I can't just mope here. I need to do something helpful. Like maybe sleep._

Yes, rest was the much needed medicine that would help Sol rejuvenate and crawl out of this hole of angst he seemed to be trapped in, the grappling hook he needed to escape this canyon of trepidation.

_Good night_, he thought comfortingly to himself. Expecting instant sleep, he was very disappointed, because about four minutes after laying his head down to sleep, he was still as awake as ever.

_Insomnia, again? _he thought angrily. Admittedly, however, imsomnia was a common practice in the NightWing fortress. After all, how comfortable could you be on a hard stone floor?

_Oh, well, _Sol thought. _I'm going to go and spy on the NightWings._

_Or, _he thought, looking back at the hole_. I could eavesdrop on Starflight and big brother. It's a lot safer, and I can listen in on something that might pertain more to what I want to know! What a genius plan!_

Sol lighted down and sidled up to the hole, which still faintly smelled of the technicolor yawn he had performed earlier.

_No matter_, Sol thought confidently._ I won't stop because of a silly little thing like barf._

Sol proceeded to place his ear to the hole. He could faintly hear Starflight's diminuitive voice but he could clearly hear Dusty's more booming one.

"I think you're right," Dusty said. "That is a good plan. But how will we get that without being caught?"

"Easy," Starflight mumbled. "We can make Sol do it. They'll think it's more inconspicuous."

"Are you sure? How is he going to grab a bucket of that and transport it back! He'll be caught for sure, and there's no saying the punishment you three'd be in if you are!"

"Trust me," Starflight said rather egocentrically. "I've solved my way through things like this before. Believe me."

"Hummph," Dusty replied with a sarcastic snort.

"Whatever. I'll go back. We'll tell him in the morning," Starflight said.

Hearing these words, Sol hurried onto the floor and pretended he was asleep and had been for a while.

Moments later, Starflight went through the hole.

"Auugh, what is that stench?" He exclaimed. Sol couldn't help but snicker. Luckily, he wasn't heard.

"All right," he heard Starflight say. "Time to tidy up this blood."

Hearing Starflight say that put Sunny on his mind again.

_Why? _he internally despaired. _Why did I do that, and how?_

Because before, his light beams were always weak and were lucky if they could penetrate a leaf. He knew something was amiss when he hit the rock. He had never been able to do that before. Realizing that lead to light beams in general, which led to realization.

_I would have been so lucky if I hadn't figured that out. Ignorance is bliss, after all._

However, luckily for Sol, he started to feel the bliss of sleep rise upon him with open arms. In the end, he was deep in sleep.

Sleep that was both needed and wanted.


	15. Attack Strategies

Chapter 15

Soon, Glory was back from notifying Grandeur, and she, Gila, and Fatespeaker were all gathered in the throne room discussing the best action they could apply to the situation.

"I say we gather the RainWing army and save Sunny and Starflight!" Fatespeaker suggested.

"No, no, I think we should get the rest of the queens to help us and combine all of our armies. Think of the _manpower_!" Glory said enthusiastically.

"Gila?" Fatespeaker asked. "You have an idea?"

"Not yet, no." Fatespeaker looked disappointed. "Give me some time."

If there were two things that Gila was good at, they'd definitely be thinking and blocking out sounds while doing so. She employed those skills right now as she lost herself in her deep thoughts.

_All right, Gila, remember what Sunny told you about her and the dragonets of destiny! I can recall her telling me the MudWing and the SeaWing were both great fighters, and that the dragonets' partners, their names were Riptide, Peril, and Deathbringer, right? And Deathbringer's an assassin, from what I remember!_

Formulating all this jumble in her mind that started to gradually make sense was creating itself into what Gila would call a pretty respectable plot.

_Hopefully, _she thought_. Glory and Fatespeaker will agree that it's adequate enough to use._

"Ok, I think I've got one." Fatespeaker and Glory perked up instantly, giving their full and undivided attention.

She explained her idea, which went a little something like this: Gila stated that they didn't have unlimited time to save the prisoners of the NightWings, so they needed to work quick. The other two agreed about this notion.

Saying they'd need to be efficient obviously ruled out the idea of notifying each queen. Gila said that instead, they could gather Deathbringer, Peril, Riptide, Clay, and Tsunami(who Glory said she would bet would send the entire SeaWing army foaming at the mouth along for the ride) and just use them for the attack. As a given, the RainWings' army would also join in the fight. They would also send Deathbringer, Glory, and Gila herself to save Starflight and Sunny.

After presenting her plan, Glory remarked, "That sounds an awful lot like our previous attack on the NightWing fortress." After a few seconds of silence that made Gila feel anxious, Glory added with a wicked grin, "But I love the edits. Operation Save the Prisoners is a-go."

Everyone was pumped with vigor, and pride filled the air of the maze-like hallways as the dragons walked to the grand double doors in front, urged them open, and walked out into the daylight. Gila had to squint, as it was really never too light inside the palace.

In the midst of the hype for the plan, the sneaking through the halls of Glory's residence and nearly getting locked up in prison due to being accused of imposture, she had nearly forgotten about the not as shiny and exciting fact that Stonemover was out here somewhere.

The thought popped right back in her mind while she was revising their secret plot for any inherent flaws, and she rushed over to the bush Stonemover had been shrouded in before.

No one was there.

"Queen Glory?" Gila called.

"What?" Glory asked, coming to join the SandWing.

"Did you happen to see Stonemover hiding in the bushes around here?"

It took Glory a second to register that Stonemover was Gila's father too, she could tell. When Glory opened her mouth to speak, Fatespeaker cut in, unbeknownst to the fact the RainWing was talking.

"Guys, do you know where Stonemover is?" Apparently she had noticed, too.

Gila had a setting in her mind that one may call a tendency to jump to the worst-case scenario of negative situations. For example, Gila was firmly convinced Stonemover had been captured by scavengers who would rip him apart with their claw mechanisms.

Glory, being somewhat more of a realist upon hearing Gila say this, replied, "No scavengers caught him. What probably happened was either he snuck into the palace after you or he went on a walk or something. It's fine, for moon's sake."

"Yeah, I guess," Fatespeaker uttered. Gila nodded in agreement.

"Right. I'll go back into the palace to search, and you two search around the rainforest for him. He couldn't have gone far," Glory instructed.

Hearing Glory say they'd look for him was comforting to Gila. She was truly worried out of her mind.

"All right then!" Fatespeaker said. "Let's go!"

As Glory went up to the double doors of the palace, Gila and Fatespeaker ripped their way through the dense foliage that shrouded the palace. It grew back where the dragons had persevered through it before, giving Gila the mindset it might be animus-touched.

"So, Gila," Fatespeaker said shortly after braving the maze of leaves and vines. "Think like your dad. Where would he go when he's unattended?"

"Honestly, I believed he'd have just stood still. He's not really the moving type."

"I see where you're coming from. Glory's probably right about him being around here."

"C'mon, we don't want the queen to come back out when we still haven't lifted a claw. Let's get moving." With that, Fatespeaker and Gila took to the sky.

Hovering about level with some of the taller huts, the two dragons stayed on vigil from the sky. After a minute or two, Gila spoke up.

"Let's face it. He's not looking for us, he's waiting. We have to be the ones to find him, and we certainly can't do that in a tree." Fatespeaker replied with a nod.

Landing on the roof of a hut Fatespeaker said was empty, they discussed possible ideas to finding Stonemover.

"He's probably in the palace, let's face it. It's almost certain he went looking for us," Gila said, head down in defeat.

"I don't think so," Fatespeaker argued. "Maybe he went back to my hut."

Gila stood firm in her theory. "I still think I'm right."

"Whatever you say," Fatespeaker said. "You sit tight. I'll be at my hut searching for him. If he's not there, I'll come back. Sound good?"

Gila didn't appreciate being bossed around like she was a small dragonet, but she said yes and Fatespeaker lifted into the air and flew of huffily.

_I don't need her,_ Gila thought rebelliously.

Just then, a curious thought popped into her mind_. What do you suppose is in the hut below you? _her mind nagged._ C'mon, you want to knoooowww... I know you doooooo_...

Ultimately deciding it couldn't hurt, she slowly creeped down to the door and creaked it open, producing a sickly sound that made her ears want to bleed.

Inside, it was dusty, dark, and riddled with cobwebs. Dust particles revealed themselves as the light hit them.

Just then, creaky voice rasped through the hut.

"Who's there?" it asked in a worried tone.

Gila couldn't help but yelp in terror. A disembodied voice was a creepy thing on its own, but said voice being in a dark unoccupied hut was another thing. Gila was just about to high-tail out of there, when suddenly a figure ominously emerged from the shadows.

"Gila!" the figure, still thoroughly swallowed by the darkness exclaimed. "You made it! Where's your friend?"

As the dragon protruded from shadow it was deep inside, Gila was shocked.

"_Dad_?" she said, taken aback. "Why are you in here?"

"The better question," Stonemover gruffed, "is, why are _you_ in here, young lady?"

Grabbing Gila, he made his way out the door ever so slowly, the small SandWing in tow.

"Geez, if I had to list the misbehaviors you've committed in the last 24 hours..." he mumbled under his breath.

As he set Gila down in front of the threshold of the hut, Gila bargained with Stonemover.

"Dad, if I tell you why I was in there, will you please tell me why you were?"

Stonemover grunted a sound akin to a 'yes', so Gila explained everything since they had split up, no matter the significance of the event. Nodding the whole time dismissively, Stonemover cleared his throat when the time came for him to speak.

As the NightWing was not much of a speaker, he kept it short and sweet.

"Ok, so when you and Fatespeaker, I think that's her name, went into the palace, I thought I'd go back to her hut instead. Thinking this was it, I went inside. The door was stuck when I attempted to force it open from in here." He cleared his throat once more. "There's your explanation. Happy?"

Just as Gila prepared to respond, asking why Stonemover wanted to go to Fatespeaker's hut in the first place, Fatespeaker and Glory landed near them almost simultaneously.

Fatespeaker looked worried, and Glory looked puzzled. She probably was wondering what was the fuss, much like Gila was.

"Guys," she announced, barely taking notice to the fact Gila had found Stonemover. "When I went back to my hut, I decided to take a quick flight to the hole, and..." She seemed to have difficulties continuing.

"What is it? What?" Glory asked frantically.

"Well," Fatespeaker gulped a bit. "The hole is blocked off. Completely unaccessible. I believe we may be in trouble."


	16. Tunnel Escapades

Chapter 16

Sunny awoke with a start. Looking around, Starflight was fast asleep, as was Sol- Dusty was most likely down on the ground, outside the hole.

Guessing to herself it was very early morning, she decided to get up, attempt to leave the fortress and check the opening to the kingdom, as she had a hunch it was blocked off. The NightWings weren't _stupid_, after all.

Still laying down, Sunny had vague memories in her mind from before she went to sleep brewing in her head, although they perhaps had been dreams. They were extremely peculiar, depicting Sol raising up, venom lacing his voice, and attempting to kill her and Starflight.

Given these facts, it didn't take a genius to deduce that it had been a dream. Why would Sol do that in real life?

Sitting up, Sunny noticed her splitting headache. It felt like she had been struck in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.

She inspected herself and gasped. Starflight's bandages, the ones on his eyes, were spread on her abdomen. Gingerly pulling them away, she noticed a gash yawning across her chest.

Letting the so-called dream play itself over in her head, Sunny now remembered being struck in the chest.

_Could that mean it wasn't a dream? _Sunny fretted_. Sol could be a psycho and rip Dusty and Starflight apart without me even noticing! I have to do something!_

However much it hurt her inside, she picked up Sol with him not even noticing, and threw him out the hole, watching his body soar towards the ground. She would just say it was an accident. No one would know.

Feeling terrible all over, she squeezed out the hole, went down to the ground, and snuck over to the cavern Morrowseer took her, Starflight, and Luna to before.

As she moved, she didn't notice Sol stirring behind her. So the second he tapped her with a claw, she practically jumped as high as Morrowseer was tall.

Convinced it was a NightWing guard, she sighed, put her arms in the air, and turned around. Sunny was surprised to find that Sol stood there, quaking in fear.

"I thought you were dead!" he trembled. "Are you a ghost?"

"I thought _you_ were dead, Sol!" she glanced at the ground. "I thought you rolled out the hole and died," Sunny fibbed.

"Well, I guess we're both not dead." Sol looked behind Sunny in fear. "Why are you out here?"

"I wanted to check the entrance to the kingdom, to see if it's blocked off or something."

"Well, I hope you want me to tag along, because I am." He punched her jokingly in the shoulder.

_What trouble could it be?_ Sunny thought.

"Alright, let's hurry up."

"Yeah, we don't want to be caught by those guards." Sol shuddered.

In an attempt to be covert, the pair found a tunnel to sneak through that Sol said came out near the entrance. The reasoning behind this path was if a guard happened to look out the window, bright orange and gold scales would be quite noticeable on the coal-colored stone that covered the land.

Black rocks surrounding them on every side meant that the lava couldn't serve as a light source as the dragonets snuck through the tunnel. There were no torches, either. Sunny was quite glad Sol was with her now, as his unlimited fire supply and glowy scales proved useful as a doorknob on a door. It was almost imperative really, given the twists and turns that littered the path.

Unfortunately, Sol quickly grew tired of keeping his scales bright and breathing so much fire that he refused to do it for a while, forcing Sunny to do the dirty deed of lighting the way.

Like all adventures, this one had to come to an end. Upon reaching the exit to the tunnel, Sol and Sunny sat down to converse.

"How long was that walk, do you think?" Sol asked.

"I have no idea. I think it may be an omen that this tunnel leads so close to exactly where we want to go. Unusual, wouldn't you say?" Sunny answered.

Sol nodded. "So, can I go out to the entrance to check it? Pretty please with lizards on top?" he asked.

"How about I do it, Sol?" she said rhetorically. "I think it's best, you know?"

"Whatever," he mumbled ruefully. "I'll stay here."

Sunny snuck out of the tunnel, and spotted the entrance up ahead. Something was wrong though- she could merely see shiny metal where the hole was.

Climbing a bit over some rocks, she inspected the hole.

Iron was plugging it up, but Sunny did happen to notice a small indentation on the metal. It almost resembled a key of some kind. So, if she liked it or not, she was stuck here, and she couldn't do a thing about it, except wait or try to find the key.

She brought the bad news back to Sol, who was frustrated.

"How will we possibly find something like a key?" Sol asked. "There's so much ground to cover, yet so little time."

"I know, right?" Sunny said. "But there has to be a way, there just has to."

Now, dear reader, since we are talking about our heroes, you probably expect Sol to stumble over the key, run back to the fortress with Sunny, overpower the guards with a mystical strength, get the others, escape the Night Kingdom, find Gila, Glory, Stonemover, and Fatespeaker, and have a happy ending. Those types of things seem to happen to heroes a lot, don't they?

Well, you'd be wrong. This is obviously not a happy story, so there is no way that would happen. Now, back to Sol and Sunny.

"Okay, we'd better get back to the fortress. The guards will be coming to the cell soon, probably," Sol said. Sunny nodded and they started off.

While they were hurrying along, Sol tripped and fell flat on the ground.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "That felt like metal!"

Lifting his foot, there was indeed metal on the ground. Picking it up, Sunny was excited.

"Sol, I think this may be a key!" Sunny said, overjoyed.

Inspecting it, Sol deduced, "No, that isn't a key. That's just a hunk of junk."

"Oh, you're right." Sunny said, throwing the metal back on the ground.

Sol was able to keep his scales bright the whole time this time around, and due to this the dragons made it back promptly. They dashed away from the tunnel, flew upwards to the hole, went through it, and pretended to sleep.

"Well, at least we know what we'll be doing in our spare time for a while," Sunny said optimistically.

Minutes later, a burly (and surly) NightWing opened up the cell. Sunny and Sol sat up and peered at him. He glanced at Sunny and Starflight, frowned, and muttered something (which Sunny guessed was a curse word) under his breath.

"Sol," he gruffed. "C'mon, Mastermind wants you."

"Fine, Darkmoon," Sol replied, getting up. Apparently Sol knew this particular guard.

"Let's get going," Darkmoon suggested. "Don't want to anger Mastermind."

As Darkmoon lead Sol away, Sunny shook Starflight awake.

"Oh, hey, Sunny." he said. He didn't seem fazed or anything that Sunny was in front of him. Perhaps he forgot about yesterday. He didn't comment on the bandage, either.

"C'mon, the guard's bringing Sol to Mastermind. Now's our chance."

"Oh, all right. I'm up." Sunny hoisted Starflight up.

"He left the door open," Sunny said. "We've got no time to lose."

With that, the dragons went out the door and pursuited the LightWing and NightWing to the experimentation room.


	17. A Particular Assassin

Chapter 17

"Blocked off? How?" the queen of the RainWings said frantically.

Looking down, Fatespeaker mumbled, "It's a huge metal slab. No keyhole, nothing."

"That can't be. How is that even possible?" Gila reasoned. "I need to see it."

"You gotta believe me though." Fatespeaker twiddled her claws nervously. "I need you all to examine it for a weak point so we can save Sunny and Starflight. If we can't break that slab, who knows what'll happen to them?"

"Good idea," Stonemover rasped. "Yeah, let's look at it."

"After all, we can't do anything if we just sit here," Gila agreed.

Lifting a few meters in the air, Fatespeaker called to the others, "C'mon, let's go!"

Gila, Glory, and Stonemover followed, and in no time they stood in front of a very particular and very blocked off tree.

Gila tapped the metal with her talon. "Iron, I'm sure of it."

"Interesting," said a voice.

The four dragons looked around in a frenzy.

"Who's there?" Gila whispered so quietly that only she could hear.

After a few seconds of distraught and fruitless ocular scrounging, the dragons simultaneously turned back to the hole.

"Interesting," the same voice said again. "A keyhole. I've got to go tell Sol."

With that, the sound of muffled footsteps made their way through the metal and into each dragon's ears.

No one besides Stonemover was in the dark right now. To Glory, Fatespeaker, and Gila, the producer of that voice was as clear as day now.

"SUNNY?" Gila screamed. "IS THAT YOU?"

No answer.

_She must be too far away to hear me, _Gila reasoned with herself._ But who is this Sol?_

"I can't believe it!" Glory exclaimed. "I thought she was dead!"

"But what about Starflight?" Fatespeaker worried. "We know Sunny and this Sol are okay, but Starflight?" She sat down huffily.

"That was Sunny?" Stonemover gruffed. "I thought I was hearing things."

"Dad!" Gila scolded. "Three moons, you should know your daughters well enough to at least distinguish our voices!"

Stonemover simply grunted in reply, accompanied with a sarcastic eye roll.

"Okay, enough brawling, please," Fatespeaker commanded. "Time to focus on the plan."

"You're not any fun," Glory smirked. "I thought it was funny."

"Pooh," Fatespeaker replied. Glory snickered.

"But yeah, Fatespeaker's right. We do need to commence our plan," Gila explained.

"Where to first, then?" Fatespeaker inquired.

"How about we go find Deathy first?" Glory suggested.

"A nickname?" Fatespeaker said. "You're so funny, Glory."

"That's _Queen_ Glory to you," she replied pompously.

Fatespeaker, Glory, and Gila all broke out in laughter.

"Thanks," Gila said. "I haven't laughed this hard since I was a little dragonet."

"All right, let's get going. We don't want to keep Deathy waiting." Fatespeaker sniggered again.

Lifting off, the three dragonesses flew ahead of the slogging Stonemover, to chat a bit about what lay ahead.

"Where is this hut again?" Fatespeaker asked.

"I _think_ I know," Glory answered, not taking her gaze off of what was ahead of her. "It's straight forward, if I recall."

"This certainly isn't easy," Gila remarked, shielding her face just in time from a stray branch.

"You said it," Fatespeaker added.

"So, where are we off to next, then?" Glory asked.

Gila summoned a mental map of Pyrrhia in her mind, and answered Glory's question.

"The MudWing kingdom," she said. "It's closest."

"Yeah, but maybe we should go to SeaWing territory first," Fatespeaker said.

"Why is that?"

"Then we wouldn't have to retrace our steps." Gila was confused, and Glory appeared the same way. Fatespeaker explained, "If we went to the MudWing kingdom first, we'll have to circle back to the sea then curve back through MudWing territory. Got it?" The RainWing and SandWing nodded.

"That doesn't seem like you," Glory remarked. "Usually you don't explain things so well."

"I can when I want to," Fatespeaker said, clearly offended.

"Hey, what's that up there?" Gila asked.

Looking ahead, a dull-colored wooden hut poked through the lush, bright colors of the rainforest. It looked just like any other hut, save the larger size than most.

"Hey! We're there." Glory sped ahead and stood in front of the door.

As Gila and Fatespeaker landed near her, they spotted the black figure of Stonemover protruding from the leaves, slowly making his way to where the dragonesses were perched.

"There..." he panted. "I... made it..." He flopped down, gasping for breath.

Soon, he was back up.

"So, you guys stand back. I'll knock." Gila said. This statement was met with complaining from Glory.

"No, I am," she argued.

"Just let her do it," Fatespeaker commanded.

"Don't push me around. I'm your _queen_!" Glory retorted tyrannically.

Glory and Fatespeaker glared at each other, growling in frustration. While they quarreled and Stonemover sat there, uninvolved, Gila approached the door and knocked once sharply.

The knock was met with no reply. Gila tried again, this time commencing three knocks.

No answer.

_Geez, it seems like I'm forced to barge in whenever I find any place ever. Uggh_.

She creaked the door open to reveal a very plain-looking hut that strongly resembled a guard house.

To make matters worse, the hut smelled heavily of rotten eggs, as if it hadn't been cleaned in forever.

Gila clamped a talon on her snout to block out the stench, and ventured forwards.

The hut was small, it seemed. Gila checked every room, with nothing remarkable about any of them. She figured this 'Deathbringer' was not home.

As she approached the door to inform her friends, she was grabbed from behind.

Gila couldn't scream for help, as her assailant forced her mouth shut. She couldn't move a muscle, either- the mystery dragon had her in a firm headlock.

"Mmff! Mmff!" she cried. "MMFF! MMFF!"

A couple seconds later, she was dropped firmly on the ground. A light shone above Gila, blinding her.

A NightWing emerged from the shadows. He looked young and limber, yet fierce and intimidating.

Walking up to a terrified Gila, the NightWing removed his paw from her face.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Gila didn't hesitate. In seconds, she was up, and bolting for the door at top speed. Since the NightWing was very, very quick, she was pinned down in seconds.

"HELP!" she screamed. "PLEASE, HELP!" Gila hoped to catch Glory and the others' attention.

"No one will hear you scream," the dragon cooed. "You'll be dead soon, don't worry."

_Just great. Pinned to the ground, about to be killed by a NightWing. How poetic._

She tensed, scared to death of what impending doom lay ahead.

Then, the door was kicked off its hinges by a RainWing. Glory.

"Stop it, Deathbringer! She's not evil!" she screamed.

Deathbringer got off of Gila, who sighed in relief. "She intruded! So _excuse_ me!"

Before they started to argue, Gila shouted to Glory, "The plan! Don't forget the plan!"

The elegant queen calmed down. "Oh, right."

"What's this about a plan?" Deathbringer asked quizzically.

"Sit down, and I'll tell you." Glory explained. He did so, and the explanation began.

A couple minutes later, the male NightWing was completely filled in on the plan.

"Sounds like an assassination!" he said with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"Yes indeed," Gila said.

"So, who says we make haste for the SeaWing kingdom?" Glory asked.

The votes were unanimous, and the three dragons headed for the door to get Fatespeaker and Stonemover and continue the quest.


End file.
